Imitation of Life
by Himitsu-no-Paradise
Summary: Things aren't always as they seem. Spoilers for FaF4.
1. Prologue

"_What've we got?" Agent Ackland Johnson said as he entered the Los Angeles branch of the US Marshals, an organization under the US Department of Justice. He placed his Starbucks down on his desk and looked at his men._

_Agent Carolyn Manson came toward him and placed a folder in front of him. "Puerto Rican girl. About age twenty-six. She's been working as a double agent: driver for one, Arturo Braga, and a liason for the FBI. They've been cooperating with us on this one. They want us to set it up so we can get her a new identity and a new home if something happens to go sour."_

_Agent Johnson frowned as he looked at the pretty Latina girl in the picture. She was a little grungy but definitely a looker. She looked familiar actually. He dug through some more files and then frowned, deeply at what he found._

_"Set it up, Manson. And keep this on the down-low. Only tell who you need to tell. If that includes FBI, fine. It not, then don't go there." He took a swig of his coffee and set it down on his desk._

_**Leticia Ortiz,**__ he thought. __**What does fate have in store for you?**_

-*-

_"She did it for you, Dom! She just wanted you to come home!" Brian growled at Dom after the bigger man had slugged him. The bigger man had just found out that Letty had been driving Braga's goods in cahoots with the FBI and that it had led to her death at the hands of Braga's man, Fenix Rise._

_Later, when things had calmed down, Brian explained that she had made a deal: she'd drive for Braga, and feed the FBI with information on his operation, if they'd grant Dom clemency._

_She'd died for Dom._

_The guilt he felt was unbearable. He was going to fuck them up. All of them. For Letty and for himself._

-*-

_"Tokyo, Japan?" Agent Johnson asked. He picked up the __**Ortiz **__file from one of the interns and frowned. "Why there?"_

_Agent Mason crossed her arms over her chest. "She's got a friend down there, I guess. A friend that no one up here knows is acquainted with her. She'd be able to stay with someone she's comfortable with and still be safer than she is here."_

_"And what reason have we got for her not being in the US anymore?"_

"_Well, when our agents showed up in Mexico to get her out, her car was in ruins and she had climbed halfway out of it. Fenix Rise was right there and he had a gun pointed at her. We were able to distract him long enough to get her out of there but we weren't able to apprehend him. With the entire set up of the accident and with Fenix wanting Braga to believe he hadn't messed the job up, we're going with the obvious: she's dead."_

_Johnson nodded. "And all the legal details behind that excuse have been fixed?"_

_"Yes, sir. We told her close friend, um…" She looked at the file. "Mia, that Rise killed her and then set the car ablaze, destroying any remains. A death certificate has been drawn up; a funeral was even had for her. Empty casket, of course."_

_"And has a new identity been assigned for her?"_

_"Um…" Mason looked at the file. "Anabella Gonzalez. She'll work as a mechanic in her friend's garage and go to classes at a small college in the city. They've already agreed to admit her based on her high school records."_

_"She graduated high school?" Johnson looked at the girl in the picture._

_"Yep. And she got all As and Bs. She was really smart."_

_"Then why didn't she go to college in the first place?"_

_"She was good-looking."_

_"What does that have to do with any—oh…a man?"_

_"Yep. This girl had direct ties to Dominic Toretto. That Mia girl? Dominic's sister."_

_"Then maybe we're doing her a favor along with saving her life," Johnson said finally, putting her file down. "Get it done, and get it done fast."_

_"Yes, sir."_

_-*-_

_Six months after Letty's death, Dom, Brian and Mia were hiding out in the Bahamas, working on cars—as always—and Dom was finally starting to recover from his broken heart. Despite all he'd done to put her in danger in the past, Letty had been his whole world._

_It was then that the shit hit the fan. Again._

_Mia walked into the garage, holding the phone. "Dom, it's for you. Some guy with an accent. Said he knew some guy named Han."_

_Dom placed his wrench down and wiped the sweat from his brow, before he held out his hand and took the phone from her. "This is Dom."_

_**You don't know me. But I knew Han and he told me a lot about you. Took me a while to track you down.**_

___"Are you a cop? Is this someone calling to warn me I'm about to get picked up?"_

_**No. I just called to tell you…listen, man, this isn't easy but…Han is dead.**_

___The phone smashed against the wall before the man could say anymore._

_-*-_

_Leticia Ortiz, now known as Anabella Gonzalez, had been out of town on a college trip when everything with DK, Sean and Han had gone down. When she returned, Han was dead and there was a new DK in town. She knocked over, smashed and threw every tool in Han's garage she could get her hands on when she found out. She was angry, sad and confused._

_She didn't understand why every person important to her always left. Or was taken._

_She wanted to leave. She wanted to go far away. Away from the pain, away from everything. But she had no where to go. No where that was safe._

_Even if the rumors were true…even if Braga was behind bars…even if Fenix Rise was dead…_

_She was sure Braga had a second. And she was sure that second was keeping Braga's organization alive. She wasn't safe. She knew too much about the drugs. About everything. She could not leave._

_But if Han wasn't around, how could she be safe?_

_-*-_

_"Anabella?" came a voice as the door slid open. The man had a Navy man's build, even if he was a little chubby around the gut. He had salt-and-pepper gray and white hair. Behind him was a younger man, eighteen, maybe nineteen, who was a little taller than him and had buzzed brown hair._

_"Yeah, that's me," mumbled the girl, her own dark brown-black hair, which curled naturally at the ends, pulled back into a high ponytail, a few curly tendrils hanging around her tightly pulled lips. She wasn't happy with this arrangement at all._

_"I'm Mr. Boswell. This here's my son, Sean."_

_Sean Boswell? The new Drift King? Anabella had to smirk at the irony, though it was a bitter expression since her eyes held nothing but anger and pain._

_"Come on in. Um…there are only two bedrooms but you can sleep on the couch. I know it's cramped but I guess Han left a note. Said he had someone he was taking care of, someone he wanted Sean to look after if something happened to him. He really trusts my son, I guess. And, uh, I know what your situation is. The…people…who set you up with Han called me. We'll take care of you, okay? Right, Sean?"_

_Sean looked at the girl. She was beautiful. A little old for him, maybe. And he was quite happy with Neela. But maybe he'd bring her to the next drift races. He was sure Twinkie would enjoy trying to hit on her. And she looked like she needed to have some fun. Or at least get laid._

_"Yeah. We'll take good care a'ya," replied the thick southern accent and Sean grinned, pleasantly at her._

_**Keep dreamin', chico. You ain't getting' none of this,**__ thought the young woman as she dropped her stuff and sat down on the couch. So this was her life now?_

_Great. _

-*-

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


	2. Chapter 1

Leticia Ortiz hated being called "Anabella". She really just hated the name. She'd known a priss girl her senior year of high school who did nothing all year but try to steal her boyfriend. Letty had to admit, her boyfriend was a real catch but the girl was a real skank and ever since, she'd hated the name.

As for her boyfriend...

Letty ignored the aching in her chest as she stood next to Sean's girlfriend, Neela, and watched men, horny for chicks and cars, show off their rides. This was the third night Sean had brought her here and damn, if she wasn't sick of all the same guys trying to hit on her.

Including Twinkie.

The first night Sean had asked her to come, she refused. She really didn't need to get all caught up in racing again. It's what had gotten her into this mess in the first place. But the second night, she couldn't resist. She needed to be around cars, around racing, it was in her blood. Her boyfriend use to say NOS was in her veins.

Boyfriend?

Ex-boyfriend, through no consequence of her own.

She wished she was still with him, but…

_No, Letty. Stop that. You're Anabella Gonzalez now and you've never heard of--_

"Dominic Toretto, man! I'm tellin' you, it was him!" She heard Twinkie's voice trail across the parking garage.

For three nights since the night she'd agreed to come, Letty had been coming to this place with Sean. But this was the first night she was actually interested in what was going on. Her ears perked and she turned her dark eyes toward Twinkie and the group of guys he was with, one them being Sean.

"Who's that?" Sean's thick drawl questioned.

"Dude, are you stupid?" Twinkie replied. "That's the dude you raced the other night! The one who smoked your drift car in a fuckin' muscle car, man."

"Oh, him."

Dom?

Here?

Which night?

"Man, that was five days ago, let it go!" Sean replied, obviously butt-hurt that he'd actually lost to someone so soon after claiming the title of Drift King. "He's probably long left Tokyo by now."

Letty hoped so. If he saw her…if he _found_ her…

"Man, but this dude is a legend, Sean. A _legend_! The dude did time in California, man. Lompoc, I hear. Then he went on to be, like, one of the greatest street racers ever. But I heard he use to jack like, big rigs, man. Got him in big trouble with the feds. He dropped off the radar after that. But I swear to you, dude, it was him!"

"How do you know?" asked one of the less important guys there.

"Found a picture of him in Han's garage. Labeled. I mean, I didn't get a great look at him when he was here, but I swear he looked like the guy in the picture. There was a girl too." He looked over at Letty. "She kinda looked like you, Ana!"

"_Chingo entrometido_. _Callate_," replied the woman. A picture of the team? That was bad. She couldn't have any evidence of her old life floating around. It would be dangerous. "Let me see that picture, Twinkie."

Twinkie whipped it out and showed it to her. "See? Here's Dom. Tough looking _chico_, ain't he?"

"Don't do that."

"What?"

"Try to speak Spanish."

Twinkie grinned and then pointed. "And this chick. She looks like you."

Letty snatched the picture from him and stuffed it in her bra, and then looked at Twinkie with 'just-try-it' eyes. "Stick your hand anywhere it don't need to be, _negros_, and I'll break your fingers, _comprende?_"

"Aw, come on! Give it back! What's it to you?"

"Maybe I think Han will want it. Maybe I wanna put it on Han's grave, ever think of that? _Pendejo_."

She sniffed, indignantly after that and then held out her hand to Sean. "Let me see your keys."

"What?"

"Gimme your keys, _gringo_. I wanna race."

"Ha! You wanna drift? Gimme a break, Ana. Just 'cause you know cars and work on cars don't mean you can do this. It's not easy. Took me months of trainin' with Han 'fore I could get the hang'a it." Sean smirked at her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the hood of his car. "What makes you think you can do it?"

"Well, gimme your keys, and we'll find out, won't we?" She crooked her fingers at him. "Now give 'em here."

"Fine, but if you trash 'er, your fixin' 'er for free," replied Sean, dropping his keys into her hand before he grinned at the group huddled around his car. "This oughta be good."

Letty climbed behind the wheel of Sean's Mustang, and smirked. "So which of you is brave enough to race me?"

A tall, slim Japanese guy snorted and stepped forward, his hair slicked back over his head and his body covered in ripped jeans and a mesh shirt. "I'll race you, _gaijinn._"

Letty's eyes blazed and her smirk grew. "Then lets go."

In a matter of minutes, both cars were rumbling on the starting line at the bottom of the parking garage.

Sean stood in front of both cars and smirked. "You know what you're doin', Ana?"

"I seen you do this before, I know the rules. Lets go!" Letty replied, determination and the first remnants of adrenaline pumping in her dark eyes.

Sean raised an eyebrow at her then pointed to the right.

"Ready!"

He grinned wide and pointed to the left.

"Set-o!"

Then he grinned at Letty. "_Gambatte._" With that, he yelled, "GO!"

The cars, took off, and Letty fell behind, but she didn't count herself out yet. As the first turn came up, she double-clutched and shifted and the car drifted easily around the corner.

As he boarded the elevator, Sean's eyes widened in surprise before the doors closed and started up to the top.

Street racing was diverse. If a competitor wanted a drag race, then the racers would drag race. If they wanted a regular, closed-streets, all-or-nothing race, that's what they got. And if they wanted to drift? Same deal.

So Letty knew how to drift. Dom had taught her. Dom had taught her a lot of things.

She fell behind again, growling. She couldn't let him distract her. He wasn't here. She'd never see him again most likely. Too dangerous. Too vulnerable. She shifted again and stomped on the accelerator, jerking the wheel and drifting around one last turn, pulling into the lead before she shifted one last time, pulling the car into a drift up the last spiral.

When she reached the top, she brought the car to a hard stop, and turned her head to look at Sean. A big, cocky grin spread over her face. "You were saying?"

A crowd of people rushed to her, pulling her out of the car and hoisting her up, as Twinkie turned on some loud hip-hop music, watching the crowd burst into party-mode yet again.

Sean, however, just stood there and stared incredulously as the girl who'd so easily drifted his car into the good-graces of the drifters here, when it had taken him months to do.

He took a step forward and pulled her down from her throne of arms and looked at her. "How'd you win? You were behind! And you barely beat that guy? How'd you even know how to drift?"

Letty closed her eyes, and found some words from a long time ago lingering within her, words from a muscular street-racing legend on the streets of LA to a street-racing upstart-gone-undercover-cop. She opened her eyes and looked at Sean. "It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning is winning. As for drifting? There are a lot of things you don't know about me. So close your mouth, or you'll end up catching flies, _gringo_."

She smirked and pushed past him, over to the party, joining into the festivities and leaving Sean to gape.

**A lot of things you don't know…**

_Well then_, Sean thought, _I guess it's time I found out__._

-*-

Letty worked at a new garage since Han's death. She worked there from late afternoon until closing, since morning to early afternoon was taken up by school. She was also able to work all day long on weekends, and she loved that most of all.

Working with cars calmed her, gave her a chance to think, to understand the possible reasons why the four letter word for what she was living had gone from _life _to _shit_ in a matter of a few short months.

All of those reasons came back to Dominic Toretto.

If she hadn't lived down the street from him, she wouldn't have met him. If she hadn't have met him, she wouldn't have fallen for him. If she hadn't fallen for him, she wouldn't have stuck by him. If she hadn't stuck by him, she wouldn't have had to hijack trucks. If she hadn't had to hijack trucks, they wouldn't have had to run. If they hadn't run, the cops wouldn't have been after him. If the cops weren't after him, he wouldn't have left.

And if he hadn't left, she wouldn't be in this situation. She wouldn't have driven goods for Braga, or almost been killed, or had to be put in witness protection. She'd be in America, probably finishing up college, getting a good job, marrying a good man, having kids.

She clenched her jaw tight as she put down her wrench and picked up some pliers, her whole body covered by a massive '90 Honda Civic who's engine wasn't running the way the owner, a car collector, wanted it to.

No, she didn't want that life. She didn't want the white picket fence and the perfect man and the 9 to 5 job. She liked the adrenaline of being around cars. She liked knowing she had made the bad boy fall in love with her, that he was faithful—as far as she knew—only to her. She _liked_ getting engine grease under her nails.

She wasn't a girly-girl. She wore torn jeans, cargo pants, and didn't care of her thong—or boxers, depending on her mood—was showing a little. She liked her dirty wife-beaters and t-shirts reading 'Cars Boys' and her platform shoes with tacky flames.

She liked her life. Or she had before everything had gone down. Now, she questioned her choices.

But no matter how much she went back to the beginning, to when she'd first met him, and tried to change it and follow the line of her life since that change, somehow she always ended up meeting him again, somewhere, somehow.

Like a gravitational pull. Like fate. Like he was the other half of her soul and he would always be a part of her life.

_Dammit_, she cursed, blinking back lonely tears, angrily. She didn't cry. She _never_ cried. Not since…

No, she didn't need to dredge up even more painful memories. She just needed to finish this car.

"Gonzarez!" cried the old owner of the shop, always messing up her alias because of the 'R' and 'L' mess up that many Asians who spoke English made. But she had learned to ignore it as she slid out from under the Honda and looked at him.

He pointed and she saw a sleek black sedan driving into the garage. She'd seen this car before. The man who drove it was a chauffer and the men who climbed out of the back were always dressed in slick suits. Older Japanese men. Usually from about middle-age up until early to late sixties. Sometimes they wore long coats over their suits.

She wasn't stupid. Long coats usually meant some sort of concealment of a weapon or illegal substance.

Letty stood up and wiped her hands, straightening her grease-covered wife-beater and wiping her sweaty brow, stray tendrils of hair from her ponytail clinging to her moist forehead. She watched as the men she always saw stepped out of the car.

One always caught her eye in particular. He was young. Probably around her age. His ink-black hair was always spiked or slicked back, and his eyes were slanted and dark. His skin was pale and he wore a suit as black as his hair, and pinstriped. He also wore a long coat like his compatriots but despite his age, they seemed to flock around him like wolves flocking the alpha in a pack.

She doubted he was really any sort of leader to them but she had no doubt his father or some relative was.

The man walked right past her, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye before he stopped in front of the owner. They exchanged a few words in rapid-fire Japanese but Letty heard a word she knew. A word she often caught in their conversations when they came into the garage.

**Yakuza**.

The man started back toward his car and then stopped in front of her. "You need to fix _that_ car, understand? El caro fixo, comprende?"

Letty wanted to punch him. But that word, yakuza, it scared her. She also wanted to laugh at how stupid he sounded, saying fake Spanish words in his Japanese accent.

"I speak English," she murmured. "And obviously, so do you."

The man smirked. "Ah, _ii desu_. _Suki daiyo, gaijinn_."

Letty narrowed her eyes at him but went to the car and popped the hood. "What seems to be the problem?"

"It sputters when we start and stop it. It's also making some strange clanking noise. Fix it and fix it by tomorrow. It's important we have this car back by then," replied the man and holding up a wad of cash. "I already paid the owner. This if for you if you can get the job done in the time allotted. We have a deal?"

Letty looked at the money. Was it dirty? It wasn't like she hadn't dealt with dirty money before. But Yakuza? They were a big deal. Did she want to get tangled up in this by taking his money?

She could use the money. College wasn't cheap and Mr. Boswell did expect her to pay rent, as well.

And she'd been in worse situations before. She figured it was at least safer than what her predicament would be if she was in America.

She nodded. "Your car will be done by tomorrow."

"Good. I'll be back then and if what you say is true, you'll get your money."

He snapped his fingers and as they left the garage, she noticed another sleek black sedan pulling up to take him and his "posse" away.

She placed her hands on her hips and looked at the man's car. How did she get herself into these messes?

-*-

Dominic Toretto had always believed that family came first. So when he'd heard that Han was dead, he'd immediately found discreet transportation to Tokyo.

He'd attended Han's service, where he found a huge group of young men all paying respects. They all had Japanese cars. Nice cars. _Drift_ cars. He'd come to visit Han in Tokyo before. It was a short visit. But Han and he had fixed up an American muscle car—a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner—and Han had promised to keep it well hidden so Dom could find it and use it if the need came.

Throughout the service there were whispers of a new Drift King in town and when Dom had found out some southern white-boy named Sean Boswell was that person, he realized he needed to bring his Roadrunner out of hiding.

He raced this "DK" on his own turf and the race had been close, but as usual, Dom had come out ahead. Of course, it wasn't enough to strip the DK of his title. After all, Dom wasn't staying in Tokyo permanently. Enough to pay tributes to Han and do a little racing and then he would be on his way back to the states, back to Mia and Brian.

Then he saw her.

Walking down the street casually, one day, she probably didn't even know he'd seen her. He himself didn't realize he was seeing her. He thought she was a ghost, a hallucination, a product of too many exhaust fumes.

But no…

No one else had those eyes. The eyes that stared through the "bullshit" as he'd once put it. Eyes of an angel and a devil all rolled into one.

She was waiting at a bus stop, dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a t-shirt that read something about cars and boys and her hair was down around her face, but it was definitely her.

Letty.

He called out to her but the large bus came pulling up, honking at a small car in its way and he knew his voice would get lost in the struggle of sounds.

When the bus pulled away, she was gone.

It seemed instantaneous, in fact, and he wondered if he'd ever seen her at all.

Yet, something inside of him told him he couldn't just ignore what he'd seen and what he'd felt.

The first payphone he found after that, he used. He didn't use a cell phone much anymore. To easy to trace.

He called Mia.

**"Hello?"**

"It's me."

**"Dom? Are you okay? How was your friend's service?"**

"It was nice, Mia. He had a lot of good friends out here. He was well liked."

**"Good. I'm so sorry, Dom. All of this happening so soon after Letty—"**

"That's why I called, Mia. Look, I…there's something here I gotta look into. It has to do with Letty, and possibly Han too. So, I'm gonna be stayin' for a few more days."

**"Dom…please don't go on anymore wild goose chases. I said it before…nothing you do will bring her ba—"**

_"Okane o kudasai," _said the phone and Dom frowned.

"I'm running out of time here, Mia. I'll call you when I get a chance."

**"Dom, don't—"**

The line went dead.

-*-

These translations are rough. If anyone knows the exact translation, please let me know:

_Chingo entrometido_ = Fucking nosy  
_Callate_ = Shut up  
_Gringo_ = white boy  
_Pendejo_ = An insult close to dumbass or asshole  
_Gaijinn_ = Newcomer  
_Gambatte_ = Good luck  
_ii desu _= Good  
_Suki daiyo_ = I like you

Yakuza = The Japanese mafia.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


	3. Chapter 2

Letty returned to Sean's house sometime after eight o'clock at night and took her shoes off by the door. Then she set her bag down on the cluttered counter and sighed.

The bathroom was in through Sean's dad's room and Letty always felt exposed, despite that the door had a decent lock on it.

But she picked up the big t-shirt she wore to bed and tiptoed through the room and into the bathroom, locking the door. She looked at the shirt. It used to belong to Dom.

She inhaled the lingering scent of him and remembered the day he'd given it to her. It was in a bathroom, just like the one she was in, and had been just a passing thing. She'd never have known then that it would be the last thing of his she would be able to hold onto.

She closed her eyes, letting the memory wash over her.

-*-

_Letty had a tendency of walking from the bathroom to the room she shared with Dom in the nude. It hadn't really been a big deal, at first. The bathroom was only two feet from the room. But then Vince and Leon had started to stare._

_That bugged Dom._

_One day, as she was showering, Dom climbed in with her. After they'd had a good shower screw and washed each other, she climbed out to find Dom holding the shirt out to her._

_"What's this?" she asked._

_"One of my old shirts. I don't wear it anymore."_

_"Why not?"_

_"Dunno. Just don't. But I want you…" He slipped it into her hand, "to wear it when you go from the bathroom to the bedroom."_

_"What? Why?"_

"'_Cause you never wear a towel and Vince and Leon are starting to catcall when you take showers."_

_Letty burst into laughter at that, not exactly expecting those particular words. When the giggles subsided, she grinned. "Seriously?"_

_"It's not funny. I don't like it."_

_"Oh, but you're allowed to 'talk' to girls at the races? Hypocrite!" But she grinned wider and held up the shirt. "Fine, fine. I'll wear your damn shirt. But only because it's got this hot '67 Chevy Impala on the back."_

_She pulled it on and put the towel on her head to dry her hair. She pointed to the towel. "This is why I don't wear a towel around my body."_

_Dom rolled his eyes._

_"Stop that eyerolling and kiss me, papi."_

_So he did._

-*-

Letty looked down at the shirt, the sleek black Chevy Impala a faded gray at this point in the shirt's lifespan. She ran her fingers over it and sighed before hugging it to her face, inhaling Dom's scent again.

A few tears slipped down her face.

She swiped at them and stood up. "Neither the time nor place, Letty," she hissed to herself and then pulled her clothes off and turned the shower on.

Then, she stepped in and sighed as the water sluiced down her slim body, washing away grease, dirt and sweat from the day.

She put a dollop of shampoo in her hand and worked it into her wavy brown-black hair and then rinsed it. Then she worked in some conditioner and as she let it set in her hair, she scrubbed her face with her coconut body-wash before she poured a little onto her nail brush and started to clean the dirt and grease from under her nails.

After that, she did a quick job of washing her body, rinsed everything and climbed out.

She dried, thoroughly, with her towel and then picked up the t-shirt. Her fingers fisted the material and she was half-tempted to just wrap the towel around herself.

But Mr. Boswell was sleeping just outside the door.

And the shirt sometimes made her feel like Dom was still with her.

And if Mr. Boswell happened to wake up, she'd rather have the security of her thoughts of Dom to keep the embarrassment and anger away. She sighed and pulled the shirt on over her head, as well as pulling a pair of black panties on. Then she braided her hair and quietly headed out.

She peeked into Sean's bedroom. He was gone. Probably went to the drift races. And he hadn't even waited for her.

"Bastard," she grumbled. "Probably still sore I knew how to drift an' didn't tell him."

It was all right, though. She was tired from the day, and still a little scared about the Yakuza group that had come to the garage that day. She'd worked on that car from the time he'd come until the garage closed. She'd found that the reason the car was sputtering. His fuel filter had been a mess and his spark plugs were ruined. She'd replaced all of that and it was fine.

But no matter how she searched, she couldn't explain the clattering. His belts and valves were fine. Nothing had broken off. She just couldn't explain it. She didn't know when he'd arrive at the garage tomorrow to pick it up. But it was Saturday, so she'd be able to show up right when it opened and begin her search again.

She closed her eyes and fell asleep, Dom being the last thing she saw in her mind's eye before she drifted off.

-*-

Brian O'Connor put the bags he was loaded down with on the shining floor of the airport and turned to his girlfriend, making a displeased face at her. "Mia, why the hell are we here?"

Around him were a bunch of murals of advertisements painted on the walls, for random and strange products. Of course, they probably wouldn't have been so strange if he could read what the product actually was. As it was, he couldn't.

Because everything was written in Japanese.

Of course, he recognized some, like Coca-cola and McDonald's. But mostly, he just looked around, full of confusion.

He just didn't understand why it had to be Tokyo.

Well, yes he did.

Dom was here.

And after Mia's last call with him, Brian knew she wouldn't sit idly by.

Still, he had to ask. He was just that difficult a person.

"You know why, Brian," replied Mia, pulling out the little English-Japanese dictionary she'd bought in the gift shop and trying to decipher some of the signs around them.

"Okay, I guess a better question would be, why the hell did I get saddled with all the bags?" Brian continued.

"Because," Mia turned and grinned at him a little. "You love me."

"Damn."

"Your fault." She took a few steps toward him and kissed him before pointing. "If we go this way, we'll come out on one of the city's main streets. We can go from there. Come on!"

Brian rolled his eyes and hoisted the bags up again. "Here we go again."

He followed her out.

-*-

Letty wiped at her forehead, smudging grease across it, as she dug through the sedan's engine for a third time. She growled to herself. What the hell could possibly be causing the clattering? She'd checked _everything_!

It was then she noticed something. It was a soldered-on patch on one of the pipes. It must've been to patch some sort of hole. She blinked and opened the cap to the valve and shone a flashlight into it.

She saw something. Taking her pliers, she went digging around, until she caught it and then she pulled it out.

Her eyes widened. A bullet. She went fishing around again and found another. And another. By the time she was done, she'd fished out at least ten bullets, and that's when she noticed that the entire pipe was patched. She climbed out of the hood and looked at the body work, running her fingers over the flexible metal and black paint of the frame.

She could tell that a part of this had just been replaced and she put two and two together.

Dirty money? Definitely. Blood money?

She was almost certain, now.

"Is it ready?"

She jumped when she heard the voice and she turned to look at the man, her dark eyes widening. Then she cleared her throat. "Yeah, it's ready. Just finished, actually."

She put the cap back on and closed the hood. "Start it. It should be just fine now."

The man swept past her and climbed in, starting the car. It rumbled to life, quietly and stopped just the same. He climbed back out and placed his elbow on the roof of the car, smirking at her. "_Totemo ii desu ne, kirei_."

Letty closed her eyes, her lip twitching. She knew what _kirei_ was and she didn't appreciate it.

"My name is Teiichi Katsumoto," he murmured. "You may call me Tei, _kirei_."

He licked his fingers as he pulled out the cash, flicking through it before holding it out to her. "Enjoy."

"I don't want it."

"_Nani_? Don't want it? And why is that?" He circled her like a buzzard circling its kill.

"Because, _Tei_, I don't like being paid in blood money," hissed the woman, as she shoved the tray of bullets at him.

Faster than she realized, he had thrown the tray to the ground and had her pressed up against him, his fingers wrapped tightly around her ponytail, pulling her head back harshly to look up at him.

He smirked down at her. "Don't test me, _kirei_. I'm an impatient man. I didn't get where I am today by letting a little _saseko _like you push me around. _Wakata ka?_"

"_Entiendo_," she replied, glaring at him. "Now let the fuck go."

**SMACK!**

Letty backstepped, and grabbed her face as she looked at him. Her cheek, a dark toffee color, was now turning an angry burgundy red from his slap.

"_Chingo pendejo!_" she hissed and she looked at the owner. But he just looked at his reports, pretending he couldn't hear a thing.

Tei laughed, coldly. "You're quite the feisty one. I think I'll bring all my cars here from now on. It'll be quite an entertaining thing to be able to see you every time. What was your name again?"

Letty's eyes were hard and defiant and Tei took a step toward her but she didn't budge. His malicious glee melted into a hard scowl at her lack of fear and that was when he pulled back his coat to reveal his gun.

Her eyes widened then, falling on the black, L-shaped weapon, unable to look away.

"Now, I asked what your name was, _kirei_."

The fear of the gun almost had her giving him her real name out of sheer lack of thinking straight. But she straightened her shoulders and tore her eyes from the weapon to look, glaringly, into his. "Anabella Gonzalez."

"Anabella? Ah, a _kireina namae_ for a _kireina onna no hito_."

"Surprised you can say the 'L' so smoothly," growled Letty.

"I am in a position of power where being able to speak fluidly with an exotic hint of an accent is a…plus." He smirked. "See you soon, Anabella Gonzalez."

With that, he tossed the money roughly at her and then snapped his fingers, his chauffeur coming around the corner and opening the door for him. Then, he stepped around the car and climbed in himself, driving the car and the horrible man away.

Letty sunk to one knee, pressing her forehead to the one not on the concrete of the garage and taking a few long, deep breaths. She disliked being so close to a gun. She was used to guns, of course. Dom had had guns. For protection. For heists. For lots of things. But those guns had never been a danger to her. _Dom_ had never been a danger to her, no matter what her relatives had wanted her to believe.

But that gun…that _man_ just now…he'd been a danger. And she had a feeling the danger hadn't passed yet.

He'd be back.

-*-

Dom wasn't happy when he returned to his hotel room on Harajuku street that afternoon. All the money he'd won street racing was paying for the room, but it did not pay for the ex-cop or little sister sitting in the room when he returned.

As he walked in, he put his room key down, quietly, not saying a word to them, and then grabbed a Corona out of the fridge, popping it open. While his back was still turned to them, he murmured, "Why're you here? An' how did you find me?"

Mia smiled. "Come on, Dom. It's Harajuku street. It's like, capital city of street life in Japan. Nice cars, wild clothes, hip style. Where else would you be able to park a Plymouth Roadrunner without it seeming suspicious?"

He turned his head a little, his profile visible and he smirked. "Saw her, huh?"

"Hell yeah," Brian intervened, grinning. "She's nice, man."

"Yeah, she is," murmured Dom, taking a long swig of his beer before he sat down in a chair across the room. He stared at the beer's label for a long moment, before he added, "Named her Letty."

Mia's smile dropped and a deep frown took its place. "Dom—"

"You shouldn't have come. I get the feeling something's gonna go down here, Mia." He looked at Brian. "Why'd you let her come?"

"I couldn't stop her, Dom. I tried to. But she told me I was either with her or against her. So I decided it was safer if I was with her. She's determined to bring you home, dude," he replied.

"I'm not coming home. Not until I find her," Dom said with a sense of finality in his voice.

"Dominic!" Mia cried. "She's dead! She's not _coming_ back!"

"I saw her, Mia!" Dom growled, standing, his large form towering over her. "I saw her. She was alive and she was standing at a bus stop. It was her, I know it was!"

"She's _dead_, Dom, she's _dead_! She's not coming back. She's _never_ coming back!" Mia argued, tears streaming down her tanned cheeks. "Never! Not…n-not ever…"

Dom's anger deflated a little and he sighed, pulling his younger sibling into a warm hug and kissing the top of her head. "Just trust me, Mia. Let me look, just a little bit more. You can even stay in Tokyo while I do it. If I don't—if it really was my imagination…I'll come home with you."

"Swear?"

"Swear."

Mia took a step back from his arms and nodded, wiping at her eyes, gently with her index finger. "Fine. But…just be discreet, okay? I doubt even here it's safe for you."

"All right, Mia," he replied and then sat back down, picking up his beer and drinking the rest down.

She was here.

And he'd find her.

He _had_ to find her.

-*-

Letty decided to go to the races that night. She needed something to get her mind off of her encounter at the garage that day and so she'd gone with Sean to the drift scene to watch the drifters in action.

She had no intention of racing herself. She was too shaken. So, she just sat on the hood of Twinkie's car and watched Sean race.

She should've known it was too good to be true. Too calm. She heard the rumble from far away. The rumble of an engine she knew well. She looked over and there it was.

A 1970 Dodge Charger, pulling into the parking garage. It had its original engine but she could tell it'd been modified for drifting too. She wondered…could it be…

She should've known better than to listen to her heart.

The person who climbed out of that car wasn't who she'd wanted it to be. It was someone she'd been dreading to see.

It was Teiichi Katsumoto.

He'd parked his car near Sean's Mustang, scratching the paint a little before he looked at Sean, grinning, cockily. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry. Was that yours?"

He closed the door to his car and shook a few hands with a smirk before he spotted Letty. His grin widened and he took a few steps forward, pulling her off the hood of Twinkie's car and pressing her close to him, twisting one arm behind her back with one hand, the other hand in her hair, pulling her head up to look at him.

"Nice to see you, _kirei_."

Letty gritted her teeth, glaring at him.

"Hey! Get your hands offa her!" Sean growled but a few of Teiichi's friends stepped between him and them.

"Should've known this was your scene, Anabella," murmured Teiichi, licking her cheek.

"Sonuvabitch, get the fuck offa me," hissed the girl, kneeing him in the groin. He hunched over onto the ground and growled a string of Japanese curses at her.

The commotion from the altercation was so great that no one noticed a Plymouth Roadrunner being parked or the muscular man climbing out.

"Bitch!"

The cry got Dom's attention and his eyes widened suddenly. It was her.

Letty.

"And don't touch me again, _cabron_!" she raged, but Tei jumped up and grabbed her, turning her around with both her arms pinned behind her back and slammed her onto the hood of Twinkie's car.

Twinkie jumped up then. "Yo, man! Careful!"

But one of the guards blocking Sean moved in front of Twinkie.

Teiichi leaned in, so his hot breath whooshed across her ear. "You try that again, _chisai saseko_, and you won't have any knees to kick with, _wakata ka_?"

"Fuck you," Letty hissed and just as Teiichi lifted her to slap her, he was wheeled around by a large hand and decked in the face.

When he recovered, he was looking at a very ominously pissed-off Dominic Toretto.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," murmured the deep voice.

"You didn't just punch me, you—" But he was decked again and this time Dom stepped on his stomach.

"Get up one more time, see what happens," he told the kid before he looked at Letty. His eyes grew soft and he lifted a hand to touch her.

"Letty—"

She slapped his hand away and took a step back. "What're you—I'm not Letty! Don't touch me, I don't know you!"

"Letty, don't—"

"_I'm not Letty_!" She yelled and then took off toward Sean's car, yanking his keys out of his pocket without little more than a flick of her wrist. Before either he or Dom could give chase, she was gone.

Not…Letty…?

Impossible.

-*-

_Papi _= Daddy, literally. But girls call their boyfriends this.  
_Totemo ii desu ne, kirei _= Very good, beautiful  
_Nani_? = What?  
_Saseko_ = Whore  
_Wakata ka_? = Understand?  
_Entiendo_ = I understand  
_Chingo pendejo_ = Fucking dumbass (I think)

_Kireina namae_ = Beautiful name  
_Kireina onna no hito _= Beautiful woman  
_Cabron_ = Fucker (I think)  
_Chisai saseko_ = Little whore

AN: Again, these translations are very tentative, so if something is incorrect please let me know.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

_Beta'd by MoonchildDJ_.

_Special thanks to Kaika-sama for translation corrections_


	4. Chapter 3

Dom pulled up in front of Sean's place and looked at the kid. "This it?"

"Yeah." He hopped out and lifted open the garage. Then he turned to Dom and shook his head, frowning. "It's not here. _She's_ not here."

Dom climbed out and closed his door, leaning against it as he rested his elbows on the roof of the car and folded his hands. _Why did she run?_ "Letty…"

"Why do ya keep callin' 'er that?" Sean asked, looking at him finally. "You're Toretto, right? That big-time American street-racer. Who's an even bigger ex-con. Ain't that right?"

Dom smirked, bitterly, staring at his folded hands. "Yeah. Guess it is, kid." Then he looked up at Sean. "What do you mean, why do I keep calling her that? That's her name."

"Nah, man, that girl is Anabella Gonzalez. She's a college student, who works in a garage downtown and lives with me and my pops. She use to work for Han but…well, yeah, you know what happened." Sean placed his hands on his hips and chewed on his bottom lip, trying to think of a place Letty might go.

Dom furrowed his brow. _Anabella Gonzalez? Anabella? Letty hates that name. But there was no mistaking it…it was her. Why did she—why did she run?_ "Hey, kid, I gotta go. Ain't safe for me out in the open for long stretches of time. Here."

He disappeared into his car for a moment and then returned to view with a piece of paper and a pen. He scribbled for a moment and then held it out to Sean. "If she comes back or somethin', call me. This is the number to my hotel room. Don't let that number get into anyone else's hands, got it?"

Sean looked at the number and then at Dom. "Yeah, sure. But why is this so important to ya? I told you, she's not—"

But Dom had already climbed into his car and started the engine and before Sean could say anything more, he had driven away.

Sean sighed and looked at the number and then turned, closing the garage before he walked inside.

-*-

Letty braked the car hard in front of the garage she worked at, causing its back end to jerk around a little. She climbed out, and slammed the door.

The garage was closed but Letty was all but pro at breaking and entering. She was a regular grade-A criminal.

And it was all Dom's fault.

She scrubbed at her face, anxiously, trying to forget the night. Trying to forget him. But she couldn't. She couldn't just push him out of her life. And apparently his gravitational pull was working overtime if he'd found her in _Tokyo, Japan_!

"Dammit!" she hissed, kicking the tire of Sean's car before she jimmied his trunk open and pulled some tools out.

There was a simple lock on the garage. The owner felt pretty secure that his garage wouldn't get broken into because a lot of people in the neighborhood knew that he worked on a lot of cars for the Yakuza. So he didn't really worry about having high tech locks and alarms.

So, it was fairly easy for Letty to pick the lock with Sean's tools and open the garage.

She took a step inside and went to her little workspace, opening her toolbox. She pulled the picture she'd "confiscated" from Twinkie out of the drawer and looked at it.

It was her, Dom and Han in the Dominican Republic, partying at a race before their last oil-tanker heist. She turned it over.

_**Dom and Letty, Dominican Republic**_

Han hadn't written his own name, for obvious reasons and Letty let out a loud breath through her nose. This was bad. This was dangerous.

Dom shouldn't have found her. He shouldn't even be here. She'd made the right choice, running away from him. She couldn't have him ruining everything the Witness Protection Program had fixed for her. She was able to go to college here, work in a—mostly—legitimate garage and still go to races on a regular basis.

But the worst thing was…she hadn't _wanted_ to run. She had wanted to stay there. With him. She had wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him and let the memories embrace her and just go back to way things were.

But things would never go back to the way they were. She was always in danger as long as Braga's organization was still operating. Braga may've been behind bars, but that didn't mean someone wasn't still behind the scenes, pulling the drug-running strings.

And she had no doubt Braga himself had his ways of getting his orders to his constituents even from prison.

And, as much as it pained her, that meant she had to continue being Anabella Gonzalez, even if it meant running away from the man she'd loved since junior high.

She gritted her teeth hard behind her lips and finally let out a feral scream, slamming the drawer to her toolbox closed and kicking it with her trademark platform-flame shoes before she flopped down on the hood of the car she'd been working on before Teiichi Katsumoto had shown up at the garage.

That was another monkey wrench thrown into the shit that was her life. This man had an obsession with her and he was trouble. Big trouble. Yakuza trouble. The kind of trouble that got bullets caught up in an engine valve.

And Dom had slugged him good tonight.

Despite her innate need to break something right now, she had to grin a little at that. Dom had decked him good. _Twice_. For her.

Always for her.

She let out a noise between a sigh and a growl and stood up, folding the picture she was holding and sticking it in her back pocket before she popped the hood on the car and got to work.

She needed to think.

And she did that best when she was fixing a car.

-*-

Teiichi Katsumoto growled as he threw his coat and gun down on the long dining room table of his family's home. He glared at his father who sat at the head of the table, which was his mother's cue to stand and leave.

She kissed her son's cheek as she walked by before she left the room.

Ichirou Katsumoto folded his hands atop the shining finish of the tabletop and looked at his son. "_Nan desu ka, _Teiichi?"

His father's voice was rough and gravelly and it fit his stern, slightly wrinkled face and black hair with specks of gray thrown in. Teiichi respected and feared his father.

His father was one of the many Yakuza bosses and so he was the only Teiichi always came to first when he had a problem.

"_Baka no onna no hito_!" replied the younger, running a hand through his spiked hair and then placing both of them on his hips.

"Ah, _sou desu_," replied the older man as he stood. "Tell me about it, my son."

Teiichi flopped into a chair, and then turned his head so his father could see the bruise near his eye.

Ichirou stood and moved toward his son. "Who did this?"

"Some _baka no gaijinn_ who was defending the little _saseko_," replied the boy as his father snapped his fingers and yelled at some servants to get an ice pack for him.

"_Saseko_?" His father murmured, more to himself than anything. Then he looked his son. "The same _saseko_ who fixed your car? The one you were so confident you'd be able to get into bed?"

His father smirked.

"_Otousama, _this is not funny," grumbled Teiichi.

"She had a man with her, hm?" His father's cocky smirk twitched a little in amusement as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"_Iie! _He wasn't with her! I mean, he seemed to know her but she acted as if she didn't know him at all. And she must not have because he called her by a different name than she gave me," replied the younger as a servant came in and pressed an icepack to Teiichi's cheek.

That got Ichirou's attention. "Different name?"

"_Hai_. She told me her name was Anabella Gonzalez. But he kept calling her Letty."

"Letty?" He looked at him. "Was there a last name to go with that?"

"Not that I heard, _Otousama_. Why?"

"It's nothing," replied his father, before he stood Teiichi up and placed his hands on his shoulders. "I doubted what good this racing thing of yours was for our family—especially after you used my sedan to race and then got it shot up by those you were racing—but I think you did something profitable for us tonight, my son. Good work."

"_Otousama_, I don't understand_…_" murmured Teiichi, but his father just patted his shoulder.

"Go on and see your _okaasama_ for a bit."

"_Otousama—_"

But with a stern look from his father, he pressed the icepack hard against his cheek and walked out.

Ichirou stroked a thumb and forefinger over his chin and then looked at the servant who'd brought the icepack. "Go to my office and retrieve that fax from Mexico for me."

"_Taishou_?"

"Now."

The servant bowed and walked out.

Ichirou smirked, devilishly. "Letty, _ne_? Lets see if you are who I think you are, _Ortiz-san_."

-*-

Letty finished the car sometime in the early, early morning. Two or three o'clock. The garage didn't open until ten o'clock and she had class beginning at seven-thirty. She knew the owner had a shower in the back and she had an extra pair of clothes in her locker for those nights when the boss wanted her to do overtime.

Standing, she placed her tools back into their consecutive drawers and decided she'd get a few hours of sleep so she wouldn't be completely dead for her classes or her shift.

She yawned and closed the garage from the inside, and then it was dark.

_"Hey, Let. Why'd you run tonight?"_

She gasped and jumped. She couldn't see him. It was too dark. And perhaps he wasn't even there. But she could hear him.

"I…I have my reasons, Dom. I don't need to tell you," she grumbled in reply, wondering if she was crazy for talking to him as she searched for the shop lights.

_"I looked everywhere for you for a long time, babe. I thought you were dead. You let me think you were dead. Why did you do that to me?"_

"Leave me alone!" she growled, as she felt around the wall. Where the _hell_ was the lightswitch? "I didn't do it to hurt you, Dom! Leave me alone!"

_"Then why? Tell me why. Tell me wh—" _The lights were flicked on when she finally found the switch and she looked around.

No one.

The shop, save for her, was completely empty.

"Fuck," she hissed.

She was losing her mind, she concluded, as she flipped the lights back off and flopped onto the couch to sleep for three or so hours before class.

When she fell asleep, her dreams were plagued with him.

-*-

Rodrigo Emiliano Ortega was a well connected man. He had been a silent partner when Arturo Braga had been in charge, a quiet second, who stayed out of sight and usually out of mind.

But now that Braga was behind bars, Rodrigo was in charge of Braga's cartel and with that came many, many connections.

Most of the mobs in Europe and Asia were on that list, including Japan's own Yakuza.

But he had a problem. After the death of Fenix Rise, he'd looked into every one of Rise's kills to make sure he'd done the job right. He'd exhumed graves, had ashes DNA tested, searched cars.

As far as he'd searched, every driver was dead. Everyone except Leticia Ortiz.

Her casket had been empty, her car was in ashes but she was not.

Now, she might be dead out in some desert somewhere for all he knew, but a good leader was better safe than sorry and so, with little confidence, he faxed a picture of the elusive girl to all of his connections.

He didn't expect much back. He had a good feeling she was dead.

Which is why he was a little surprised when one of his men came into his office to tell him that a Yakuza mob boss from Tokyo was on line one for him.

Rodrigo nodded to the man and shooed him away before he picked up his phone. "_Hola_, this is Ortega."

_**"I have some information I think you'll be quite interested in, Ortega-san."**_

"And who am I speaking to?"

_**"Someone who you will want with you rather than against you, I assure you."**_

Rodrigo smirked. He sounded like him. He was intrigued already. "I'm listening, _senor_."

_**"My son likes to race. He likes to drift, but also enjoys street races. As of late, he's taken up racing less than…friendly people. One of them riddled one of my favorite cars with bullets."**_

"Getting bored, _senor_, please get on with it."

_**"Well, he did the right thing after this incident, of course. He brought my car in to get fixed. And you'll never guess who the mechanic was."**_

"Who?" He was a little irritated. He didn't like stories, much. When he'd been old enough to use a gun competently, he'd killed his own mother because of her boring _historias de familia_. And he was bored easily.

_**"Anabella Gonzalez."**_

"Who is Anabella Gonzalez?"

_**"That's what I wondered. But tonight my son came home and told me that a very large man punched him in the face for roughing up Gonzalez-san. Said the man called her…Letty."**_

Rodrigo's eyes widened, and suddenly, he was intrigued again.

"And?"

_**"So I took the fax of one, Leticia Ortiz that your very competent organization sent out and I showed it to my son, and guess what he said?"**_

"The woman in the picture is Anabella Gonzalez."

_**"The woman in the picture is Anabella Gonzalez." **_

Rodrigo smirked and wrote _Tokyo, Japan_ on a little piece of paper and then murmured into the telephone, "And what do you want for this information, _senor_?"

_**"Nothing much. Just…25% percent of all your profit to help you get your most volatile flight risk out of your hair."**_

Rodrigo smirked. "Hm. Done."

_**"Then we have a deal."**_

"It seems we do. May I get a name, perhaps?"

_**"Katsumoto. I assume I'll be seeing you in Tokyo soon enough?"**_

But Rodrigo hung up the phone with a smirk before answering and scribbled down _Katsumoto_ before he folded the paper up and tucked it in his coat pocket.

Yes, soon enough.

He'd be in Tokyo, Japan soon enough.

-*-

_Nan desu ka_? = What is it?  
_Baka no onna no hito_! = Stupid woman!  
_Sou desu_ = I see  
_Otousama_ = Father  
_Iie_ = No  
_Hai_ = Yes  
_Okaasama_ = Mother  
_Taishou_ = Boss  
_Historias de familia _= Stories of family (I think?)

AN: Again, special thank you, Kaika-sama, for helping with the Spanish translations. I didn't use them in this chapter but I know they'll come up again in later chapters. And thanks to the rest of my reviewers for all your wonderful reviews so far!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

_Beta'd by MoonchildDJ_


	5. Chapter 4

Letty woke almost exactly when she'd meant to and she had to smile a little as she remembered the Psych class she was taking and the whole lecture on biological clocks.

She was glad she had one since she didn't have an alarm to wake her.

However, she knew she couldn't go back to Sean's. Surely, Dom would know by now that that was where she lived.

Of course, knowing Sean, he probably told Dom she worked at the garage too. But Letty couldn't ditch her shift. She needed the money if she was going to afford an apartment, which was her plan B now that living at Sean's was out of the question.

Letty stood up from her place on the couch and went into the back. She took a quick shower to wash away grease and remedy the smell and then pulled on her spare clothes and sighed.

She didn't have her books, or any writing utensils. She knew her _sensei_s wouldn't be happy with that so she went to the owner's desk and went digging.

She found a pen, a pencil and a highlighter and as she went digging for blank paper, she spotted something odd and picked it up.

It was a photograph of Teiichi Katsumoto with a young woman. They were both smiling wide and hand an arm around each other.

But the weirdest part was the young woman looked like her. Dark skinned, dark haired, dark eyes. The only differences were her facial structure which was distinctly Asian and her slanted eyes.

_Maybe half and half, _she thought to herself, and it was definitely plausible but something about her irked Letty. She felt…familiar.

She turned the photo over. _**Retsu and Tei**__._

_Retsu? Pretty name_, she murmured in her mind before placing the photo back in the desk. She dug around a little more until she foundsome blank printer paper and concluded that it would have to do before she stood and made her way to the other end of the garage, lifting the door and walking out.

She closed the door again and put the lock back on just as she had before. Then she unlocked the Mustang and climbed in, closing the door.

Sooner or later, she'd be able to give the car back to Sean. But for now, she was perfectly fine having stolen it. She'd hijacked transportation before. It wasn't the first time.

She started the car and the engine growled to life and then she made her way to the train station.

When she arrived, she parked the car nearby and then went to board the train. She was glad to be going to school. It was a nice distraction from present troubles.

It gave her a chance to concentrate on something other than Dominic Toretto and the smorgasbord of issues that came with him.

Of course, she knew only half of her problems right now had to do with Dom and her lingering feelings for him.

The other half were much more ominous and dangerous.

And they came, first class, compliments of Teiichi Katsumoto and his ties to the Yakuza.

Fun.

-*-

After Dom had left Sean's, he'd made a few calls. One to Vince and the other to Leon.

Both of the men were hiding, separately, in two different countries and so he made the calls brief. He explained to them the situation regarding Letty and both men listened incredulously.

After the calls were done, he yanked the phonebook on the payphone off of its chain and took it with him, determined to use it to find which garage Letty was working at. He was going to find her and get a damned explanation as to why she had run away from him, why she'd denied knowing him and why she had everyone believing she was dead _in the first place_.

Dawn was cracking over the horizon when he finally returned to the hotel room and he threw his keys down and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

Mia sat, careful not to wake Brian as she shifted out of his arms. She stood up.

"Dom?" she whispered and then moved toward him, blinking at the beer in his hand and then looked at the clock. "Dom, its not even eight o'clock in the morning, yet."

"I found her."

Mia's eyes widened and her knees wobbled as her whole body was washed with a feeling of confusion and betrayal. Dom caught her under his arms before she sank to the floor and sat her in a chair, gently.

Mia looked up at him as he cracked the beer open. She frowned, unshed tears clinging to her eyelashes. "You—are you serious?"

"Yes and no," replied the brawny man, taking a long drink of the brew before he let out a big sigh. "I went to the drift races. Some guy was picking on a girl. Thing is, she was picking back. So I looked over, to check it out, and it was her. He had her pinned down. He was about to rough her up more and I punched him. Twice."

"Dom!"

"He was hurting Letty!"

_I'm not Letty!_

The words rebounded in Dom's head suddenly and he slammed his beer down, waking Brian.

"At least…I thought it was Letty," he grumbled, staring out the window, running a hand over his bald head.

"What do you mean, _thought_?" asked Mia as Brian stood and listened in, a deep frown creasing his face.

"It was her. Her face, her body, her hair, her _eyes_. But she told me she wasn't Letty. She told me she didn't even _know_ me. And then she took off!"

He flopped in a chair across from Mia and ran a hand, exasperatedly, over his face, before he picked up his beer again and drank some.

There was a pause, and then Dom, added, "And some hick who's staying here with his Navy dad told me her name is Anabella Gonzalez. Anabella? Letty hates that name. Some bitch at her high school named Anabella would flirt with me and Letty all but pulled her hair out of her head and used it as a grease rag."

Mia laughed outright at that, despite the situation, because that did sound just like something Letty would do. She fell silent, then, wiping her eyes a little as she realized just how much she missed the woman who'd always been like an older sister to her.

Brian had a thought then. "Witness protection."

"Huh?" Dom and Mia both looked at him.

"Its part of the Department of Justice. U.S. Marshals. They give endangered U.S. citizens new identities and new homes," he replied. "I mean, in a nutshell. There's more to it than that. But it's a big thing, y'know? They can never go back to their original life. Never. They have to erase every remnant of it, in fact. Social security number, driver's license, any sort of identification and definitely the name."

"Wait, so you think the reason she's pushing me away and giving me some bullshit name is because of witness protection?"

"I'm almost certain of it. If they saved her from Braga's guys, then it's no wonder she needs to have a new life created for her. She'd be in big trouble, otherwise. Of course, instead of erasing her entire existence from their records, the government declared her officially dead and relocated her with a new identity."

Brian paused for a moment, and then continued, "She's pushing you away because you're part of her life as Letty Ortiz, the life she's trying to forget. She could be trying to keep you safe from Braga or keep herself safe. Probably a little bit of both. In any case, she's not going to admit to being Letty because the feds probably ingrained in her that anyone could be listening at any time and any false moves or words and she's as good as dead."

Mia and Dom listened carefully. Dom frowned and asked, "How do you know all this?"

"Usually the Marshals work closely with the FBI on relocations. This should've been one they worked real close to us with, since Letty was our liason. But I hadn't heard about it before her funeral. I hadn't heard anything about it. I believed her to be as dead as you two did."

Dom got to his feet and paced a little bit before he looked at Brian. "You think you could call those witness protection guys and get them to tell me where Letty is working?"

"Not a chance. They're secretive, man. They don't give up identities or occupations or living quarters to anyone they don't have to," Brian replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "I think this is a lost cause, dude. If she doesn't want you involved, I think you should just—"

"No! I wasn't there for her when it came to Braga the first time. I ain't gonna make that mistake again! She's _family_! _Ride _or _die_," Dom rumbled back, glaring at Brian. "I'm gonna find her. Besides, ain't Braga behind bars?"

"Well, sure, but that doesn't mean the cartel is out of commission. We stopped its leader from having the power to send drivers on fool's errands, but that doesn't mean someone else hasn't taken up the reins and found a different way to traffic the drugs," Brian replied.

"I thought you told your damned ex-colleagues at the FBI that bringing down Braga would end this," Dom growled.

"I did, because I wanted to take that bastard down! I wanted to have a bartering chip for your freedom! I wanted to avenge Letty, too, y'know? I wanted to stop him from slaughtering any more decent drivers! They wouldn't have listened to me if they didn't think Braga's capture would end it all!"

"Sonuvabitch, you lied to me," Dom bellowed. "I almost went back to Lompoc so you could fix a lot of immediates without even a thought about the long-run? I oughta—!"

"Dom! No!" Mia grabbed his arm when he cranked it back in preparation of hitting Brian.

Brian was standing, defensively and he barked, "If I had known she was still alive, I wouldn't have done what I did, Dom! I thought she was dead too! Don't blame this on me!"

Dom glared daggers at him for a moment more, before looking at his sister. She gave him a desperate look and he calmed.

"Fine." He flopped down in his chair again and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damn, this is fucked up."

"Yeah. Yeah, it is."

-*-

"Ackland! Ackland!" cried Agent Manson as she rushed into the U.S. Marshal office that morning, waving a parcel around, and looking out of breath.

"Calm down, Carolyn, what is it?" Agent Johnson asked, frowning at her.

She placed the package down on his desk. "This just came. It has no return address and all it has as a mailing address is…"

Agent Johnson picked up the package and looked at the front. His brow furrowed.

_**Witness Protection Program, Los Angeles, CA**_

_**To: Leticia Ortiz**_

"Holy hell," he murmured, darkly, before he opened the package and pulled a DVD from it. He looked at Agent Manson, and both of them made their way into the tech room, putting the DVD on the flat-screen.

A Hispanic man came on the screen, dressed in a sharp suit. A hat was drawn low over his face so that his eyes and nose were shadowed and his mouth was smirking.

"_Hello, gentlemen of the Witness Protection Program. My name is Ortega. Arturo Braga was my business partner, confidante and amigo," _the man on the screen began. _"And when he was sent to prison, he left one very loose end untied. I'm sure my package has startled you by now. After all, everyone is supposed to believe that Leticia Ortiz is dead, si?"_

His smirk grew. _"However, I know better. Recently, I've come across some new information. I know that Leticia Ortiz is alive. And I know where she is. So, as the new…CEO, we'll say, of Braga's empire, I take it upon myself to fix this grave error. Now, I have no doubt that by now whoever is watching this is yelling at their team to start finding a solution immediately. However, by the time you watch this, I will have landed in the city where Leticia can be located. I assure you, she'll be dead before you get the chance to save her."_

The man lit a cigarette and took a long drag and then grinned, evilly. _"You gave it your best effort but in the end, you fell short. Braga's organization will continue forever and no one will ever be able to reveal what they know about it. Especially Leticia Ortiz. See you soon, I suspect. But not soon enough."_

With a patronizing salute, the tape went to snow, and Manson looked at Johnson with a deep frown.

Johnson's lips were pulled tight and then he let out a bark of anger and pushed some paperwork off of a nearby table in irritation.

"We can't save them all, Ack—"

"No! I _wanted_ to save this one! More than some of the others. A lot of the others."

"Why?"

"Because…" He looked at Agent Manson with guilt in his eyes.

-*-

Letty arrived for work at her usual time and was greeted with the angry hissing of her boss, screeching at her in rapid-fire Japanese as he waved the photograph at her. She noticed that it was a little smudged and realized that this morning when she'd picked it up, her hair had still been a little wet.

Some water had probably dripped on it.

"Did you touch dis? Did you? I want truth, _baka no Amerikajin!_" squawked the owner, waving the picture.

"I just needed pap—"

"You go through my desk! You look at my things?! You fired, you mega fired!"

"I was just curious and a little perturbed that she looks like me!" replied Letty just as fiercely. She'd never been one who took well to being yelled at, even by a boss.

"Of course she do! Why you think I hire you? You think I hire woman because she fix car? No! You look like my daughter! Fact that you can fix cars is just plus! _Baka_."

Letty was taken aback by that and she furrowed her brow. "Your daughter? But she looks like she's got some latin in her."

"She do!" cried the man before he calmed and sighed. "Her name was Retsu. But I'm sure you already seen that, snoopy _shoujo_."

Letty blushed and mumbled a half-hearted apology.

"She were my daughter with my wife, Belita. Belita, she look like you too. She were beautiful. Most beautiful woman ever. Love me even though I speak bad, bad Engrish. Never leave me. Very loyal."

_Ride or die, remember?_

Letty pushed the words from her mind and nodded to him.

"Retsu were our only daughter. She grow up and she were beautiful too, just like her _okaasan_. But she go to high school with this boy, Teiichi. She get mixed up with Yakuza. She end up murdered. Teiichi love her but he not able to stop rival Yakuza group from killing her. He not able to stop them from killing the _gaijinn_. Outsider."

Letty frowned deeply, her brow knit in thought and sympathy.

"After she were killed, my wife…she disappear. Don't know why. She were sad or scared…something. But she gone. And my daughter gone. So when I see you, who look like them, I hire. _Wakata ka_?"

Letty nodded and sat, but she frowned deeply and looked up at him. "If they are the reason your kid is dead, why fix their cars?"

"I tell Katsumoto-san that I don't turn in his son as…what is it that _Amerikajintachi_ call it…accessory to murder? I tell him I don't turn his son in as dat if he bring me business. So he always do."

Letty nodded again and furrowed her brow. She couldn't imagine Teiichi ever loving anyone. He was a bastard. A real _cabron. _But…it was possible, she supposed.

He did look happy in the picture.

She stood up and went to her locker, pulling out her clothes from the night before and taking the picture out. She compared them.

Dom and Teiichi's expressions weren't so different then.

Two men in love. Two men _happy._

Both men, now, without either.

Letty placed her picture back in her locker and closed it before handing the owner back his picture. "I'm really sorry."

"_Arigatou_. Now get to work."

Letty smiled. Guess she wasn't fired after all.

Still, she was a little perturbed by his daughter's picture. And the woman, Belita. Where one had felt familiar at first, now both seemed eerily…connected to her. She couldn't explain it.

-*-

"Because, this girl is—she reminds me of another case," Johnson said finally and then went back to his desk and pulled out his files, thumbing through each one as quickly as possible, trying to find the right one.

Manson watched him, biting her lip. She knew they shouldn't get so attached to a case but apparently Johnson had. Twice.

Finally, Johnson pulled the correct file out and placed it down in front of her, the folder open wide to show a woman who looked almost identical to Letty, except older. Middle-aged in the picture. Probably a little older by now.

Her original identity read:_ Blanca Ortiz._

"This is why. One of my other cases," Johnson said. "Blanca Ortiz. Leticia's mother."

-*-

_Baka no Amerikajin_ = Stupid American

_Shoujo _= Girl  
_Amerikajintachi_ = Americans  
_Arigatou_ = Thank you

Disclaimer: I own nothing

_Beta'd by MoonchildDJ_


	6. Chapter 5

"_This is why. One of my other cases," Johnson said. "Blanca Ortiz. Leticia's mother."_

-*-

"Mother? Her mother is—"

"Was."

"Was in the program? What happened?"

Johnson sighed and gestured for Manson to sit down. "Letty was three years old. Her mother was out shopping and witnessed a murder. Drug-deal gone bad. She testified against the guy but there was an assault on her house by one of the defendant's relatives. Her husband was killed and Letty was put in a coma."

He paused and sighed. "Blanca was devastated. She _wanted_ to die, but we couldn't let that happen. We set her up in a very similar situation as Letty. A new identity in Tokyo, Japan. However, Blanca had no one to go to when she got there. Not like Letty. She was now Belita Sanchez, a Hispanic woman in a strange land and she was scared."

Manson frowned. "That's terrible."

"Letty awoke a few months later but she had no memory of her mother and very little of her father. When I asked why she remembered her father but not her mother, the doctors told me she connected the trauma to her mother so when she blocked out the trauma, she also blocked out her mother from her mind." He sighed. "I talked to her a few days later. She said she remembered what her mother looked like, vaguely, but nothing else. All she could do was talk about the few memories of her father she still had."

He stood up and pushed a hand through his hair, his back to Manson before he turned to her.

"After that, she moved in with her grandmother, who lived right down the street from Toretto."

"And that's how that got started," Manson concluded.

"Yeah." Johnson sighed. "There's more to Blanca's story though. I checked up on her a few years later. She had a two year old daughter with a Japanese man named…"

He looked at the file, "Kenichi Yamada. They named the kid Retsu. Cute kid. Tanned skin, slanted eyes, really exotic looking. Well, I stopped checking on her after that. She was happy and safe with a family. Then things went sour."

Manson leaned in as Johnson's voice dropped low. "I guess in high school, Retsu met the son of a Yakuza boss. They were head over heels for one another but it ended up getting Retsu killed. I thought, maybe, someone over here was exacting revenge on Blanca, that they'd recognized her and killed her daughter. I couldn't be sure but I relocated her anyway. But during the relocation, she dropped off the radar. I don't know, now, if she's dead or homeless or worse. But I wanted to help her daughter, make up for my mistake with her."

Johnson shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Ackland," Manson murmured, placing her hand on his shoulder, sympathetically. "But there's nothing we can do about—"

"Agent Johnson! There's someone from the FBI on the phone for you!" called an underling, peeking out from his cubicle and waving the phone.

Johnson blinked and picked the phone up. "This is Johnson."

-*-

_"Hey, pops," called a nine-year-old Dominic Toretto from the driveway, where he was sitting on the grass, fidgeting with one of the motors out of one of his sister's baby toys. He knew the one-year-old wouldn't miss it. She was a baby, after all._-*-

_Mr. Toretto looked up from his own work, where he'd been tinkering at the engine of his Dodge Charger. He wiped his brow. "Yeah, Dom?"_

_"Who's that?"_

_He nodded his head to the little three-year-old who was being escorted into a house down the street by a few men in suits._

_He knew that house. It was Old-Lady Lopez's house. She was the one who sent homemade empanadas to each house on the block every holiday._

_Mr. Toretto crossed his arms over his chest, a curious expression fluttering onto his grease-stained features. "Not sure, son. But by all those bags that man has, it looks like she's moving in with Mrs. Lopez. You'll be nice to her, hm? It can be scary to move from one home to another."_

_Dom put down the motor from Mia's toy and stood up, making his way over._

_Mr. Toretto smiled and shook his head._

_When Dom arrived, the men were pulling away and Mrs. Lopez was saying something to the girl in Spanish. When she finally spotted him, he waved and she hid behind her grandmother._

_"Hm? Oh, mi hija, don't be afraid. That's Mr. Toretto's son from down the street. What's your name again, chico?"_

_" 'm Dominic. Dom." He smiled at the frightened girl. He noticed she was clutching a Hot Wheels in her hand at that point and grinned. "Nice car. I've got a lot of Hot Wheels. If you come over, I can show them to you. And we can watch my dad work on his car. He's got one just like the one in your hand, only it's real. Wanna come?"_

_She looked at her grandmother._

_"He'll take good care of you, mi hija. He's got a little sister younger than you. He's a good boy," replied the old woman, smiling down at her granddaughter._

_She was quiet for a long moment, contemplating whether she should trust the strange boy, before she nodded and shuffled her small body toward him._

_He took her smaller hand, carefully and smiled again. "Don't worry. You can trust me. I'll protect you, okay?"_

_She nodded._

_"What's your name?"_

_"Let--Let--Letty--Letic--"_

_"Letty is fine. You can tell me your full name when it's easier for you, okay? Besides, Letty sounds pretty. It's like my name. Dom sounds way better than Dominic. To me anyway. Makes me sound bigger, don't you think? Ha! Maybe it's just me."_

_Letty smiled then. She liked him from that moment on._

-*-

Letty blinked as she recalled the memory. What had caused her it to resurface? To be honest, it was one of the few memories of early childhood she still had. She could barely remember her parents, though she knew something bad had happened to them and to her.

But that memory of Dom…

Despite how young she'd been—a mere three years—it stood out to her as if it were fresh.

She placed her wrench down and wiped her forehead, looking at Mr. Yamada, the owner, with a frown. Had it been his story? Had his recollection of his own memories spurned some trip down memory lane for her as well?

She shook her head and continued doing her work, ignoring the tickle of memories in the back of her mind.

-*-

Rodrigo's plane landed in the Tokyo airport and he stepped off. There was a limo waiting for him when he arrived.

A Japanese man dressed as a chauffeur bowed. "Ortega-san, Katsumoto-san sent me to pick you up. He said he wanted to speak to you as soon as you arrived."

"How did he know I'd be here today?"

"He didn't." The chauffeur just smiled.

Ortega smirked. "_Interesante_."

The chauffeur opened the door and Ortega slid in. He pulled the slip of paper out of his coat pocket. "So what can you tell me about _Senor_ Katsumoto?"

"He's a fair boss. Pays well. Doesn't tolerate failure or idiocy." He started the car and pulled out of the airport and started down the street toward Katsumoto's home.

Ortega listened, feigning pleasantness as he did so. He really disliked stories but wouldn't kill the chauffeur yet. He had other things planned, first.

They arrived at Katsumoto's estate and Teiichi was out front, shining the paint of his Charger with a rag. He furrowed his brow when the Latino man stepped out of his father's limo and stood up straight.

The chauffeur said something to Teiichi, in Japanese, causing the young man's furrowed brow to crease more and then he nodded, murmured something back, bowed politely to Ortega and went inside.

A servant came out and ushered Ortega inside and into Katsumoto's office, where the man sat, sorting through papers, his son standing behind his chair, looking astute.

Ah, so that's what he'd told him to do. Come and make his father look better. Ortega had to smirk at the cliché set up of this entire meeting. However, when Katsumoto offered him a seat, he took it, crossing his legs.

"May I smoke, _senor_?" Ortega asked, pulling out a cigarette.

"Please do." Katsumoto stood. "I am Ichirou Katsumoto. This is that son of mine I was telling you about. His name is Teiichi. Teiichi, tell Ortega-san what you told me."

Teiichi picked up the fax and showed it to him. "This is Leticia Ortiz?"

"It is."

He shook his head. "Her name is Anabella Gonzalez."

Ortega smirked and stood. "I'm sure you're a bright _chico_, _si_? You know that there are ways to change who you are to avoid certain…troubles. Surely, you're smart enough to realize that."

Teiichi's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he scowled.

"Teiichi, _itte_."

"_Otousama_."

"_Ima!_"

Teiichi looked at Ortega but nodded. "_Hai, Otousama_."

Katsumoto stood up and grinned. "So, you see, I wasn't lying to you on the phone. And my son even knows where she works and where she hangs out. He'd be able to take you to her in a heartbeat. That is, as soon I get my 25%."

Ortega got to his feet as well and clasped his hands behind his back, his cigarette dangling from his lips. "This is a nice office, _senor_."

"Thank you, now, can we get back to our dea—"

"Lots of nice trinkets. Certificates. Pictures of family. The Japanese, they really, really put a lot of weight on family, don't they?" His Hispanic accent was thick and dripping with ulterior motive.

"Well, yes, I suppose. Ortega-san, what does any of this have to do with—"

"Leticia Ortiz put a lot of weight on family too, did you know that? But she had a rather unconventional family. Until she was about sixteen, she lived with her grandmother. But then her poor _abuela_ died of old age, and she started to live with her real _familia_. Do you know who her real _familia_ is—or was—_senor_ Katsumoto?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

"Has that _chico_ of yours ever heard of Dominic Toretto?"

"It…rings a few bells. Yes, some…legendary American street racer, if I recall. But I don't think he's ever seen him in action. He's not sure what he looks like."

"Yes. Legendary. But not just for street racing. He's one tough _cabron_. Hijacked big rigs in Los Angeles. Hijacked fuel trucks in _La Republica Dominicana_. And guess what?"

"What is that?"

"Leticia Ortiz was with him for all of it. They were an item, you see. Inseparable. _Senor_ Braga tells me that the whole operation to bring him down was all because of Toretto's insatiable urge to avenge Ortiz. Do you know where Toretto was last spotted, _senor_?"

"No."

"The Bahamas. Do you know where he is now?"

"I don't."

Ortega smirked, bitterly. "Neither does anyone. He's disappeared."

-*-

"What?!" Johnson barked, his eyes widened.

_**"You heard me. Dominic Toretto has dropped off the radar. We were following him closely in the Bahamas but he must've found a way to skip out without us noticing. He's **__**gone**__**."**_

"Are you sure?"

_**"We're sure. We had men scaling up and down those islands. He's nowhere. He's vanished."**_

Johnson sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. "All right. Thanks." He hung up. "Toretto's in Tokyo."

"What?" Manson's eyes widened. "But didn't they just say he was gone."

"Gone for Toretto means an agenda. I get the feeling he knows Ortiz is alive and he's there." Johnson sighed. "I don't know whether to view this as a gift or a curse."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," murmured Johnson. "Toretto will make sure, above all else, that Ortiz doesn't get hurt. He loves her almost as much as he loves racing. Or…vice versa. Anyway, he'll protect her. But if we are able to get to her before Ortega does, and Toretto's in the picture, he might keep us from trying to relocate her if we're able to bring Ortega down."

Johnson pounded a fist into his desk. "Damn! This is so screwed up. Look, our priority is trying to help Ortiz. Get a team assembled, Carolyn. We're catching the next red-eye to Tokyo."

-*-

Dom had called almost every garage within a 100 mile radius of Sean's house and nothing. He had one number left. If this wasn't it, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

He dialed.

_**"Moshi, moshi! Yamada no shako desu!" **_called an older sounding man on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, uh…do you have an Anabella Gonzalez working for you?"

_**"Anaberra? Yeah, I do. She working now. You wanna talk, her?" **_

Dom snorted at the man's terrible English but murmured a quick 'yes.' There was a shuffling and then, _**"Sean, I'm not coming back. Look, you know why I'm living with you and you know Anabella's not my real name but I can't tell you anymore than that. If that guy came by, tell him I'm not coming back, so—"  
**_  
"This isn't Sean."

Dom yanked the phone away from his ear when he heard the clattering of the phone being dropped and then placed it back against it in time to hear shuffling.

_**"I don't know you! Stop bothering me!"**_

"Stop lying to me, Letty. I know it's you and I know you're doing this because you're in trouble. Let me help you. Ride or die, remember?"

_**"Shh! Don't say that name over a phone line, tu idioto! You're going to get me killed. Is that what you want? And don't fuckin' start with me about ride or die, Dom. Don't you dare. You left me hanging in the Dominican Republic, wondering why the hell I even bothered with you and then realizing I couldn't live without you anyway. I stuck my neck out for you and now look where I am! Working at a garage in Tokyo fucking Japan, under a name that I hate!"**_

Dom choked out a laugh at the last part. "Yeah, you always hated that name."

_**"**__**Dom**__**!" **_

"Letty, I want to help you."

_**"No. Leave it alone, Dom. This is over. We're over. I'm not Letty anymore. Now stop saying that **__**name**__** and stay out of my life!"**_

"You don't mean that. You're just afraid. Let me protect you!" he growled, getting irritated.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone and then a murmured, _**"Stop making that promise. To protect me. You never keep it."**_

The line went dead.

"Fine," he mumbled, as he hung up the phone. "You won't compromise. Then I'll come and get you by force."

He grabbed his keys, used Mia's Internet accessible cell phone to get directions to the garage and left his room to go reclaim his girl.

-*-

_**"Let me protect you!"**_

Letty's eyes widened when she heard the words and the memory from earlier that day resurfaced.

_I'll protect you, okay?_

She was silent. Once upon a time, she'd believed him.

Her expression became hard. "Stop making that promise. To protect me. You never keep it."

Then she hung up the phone.

She looked at Mr. Yamada, blinking when he dropped the extra phone and blushed, sheepishly. He'd been listening in? Ugh, dirty old man.

"Look, I have to go. It's urgent."

"You real name is Letty? Dat short of Leticia?"

Letty shushed him but blinked, answering in a whisper, "Yes…why?"

"My wife. She want to name Retsu that at first. I say no, no foreign name. She sad. Later on, when Retsu older, I ask her why she want to name her dat. She tell me, she had daughter name Letty long time ago. She tell me, her daughter got hurt 'cause of her. She tell me she had to leave her hurt daughter 'cause it not safe for her if she around." Mr. Yamada shook his head. "You look like my wife. And you name is Letty."

Letty's eyes widened.

That's right. She couldn't see the memory but she could hear…

Gunfire. Her dad was screaming at them to duck.

Killed. Murdered.

She was grazed in the head. Coma.

…and when she awoke, she had no parents and no memory of them. She went to live with her _abuela_ and met Dominic. She remembered visiting her father's grave before. But never her mother's.

Did that mean…?

Letty looked at the man, pushing her fingers through her long, dark hair and looking frantic.

Mr. Yamada frowned at her. "Go. Go, go. She would want me to help you. Go, go, go, 'fore I change mind. Go."

Letty blinked but smiled a little warily. "Thanks, Mr. Yamada."

She grabbed her stuff and Sean's keys and took off.

-*-

"Do you know why it's a bad thing that Toretto is missing, _senor_?" Ortega asked after a long moment of silence between them.

Katsumoto was silent, watching as Ortega circled his office—and him—like a hyena circling its prey, teasing it.

"No? Then I'll tell you. Toretto knew a man who lived here. Perhaps you know him as well. His name was Han. He worked for some of your constituents before his untimely demise. My sources tell me that Toretto left the Bahamas to come here and pay his respects to the deceased."

Ortega looked at Katsumoto. "And they tell me he never left."

"Ortega-san, I still don't understand what this has to do with our deal."

Ortega laughed. "Deal? What _deal_?"

"25% for finding Ortiz for you! For handing her to you on a silver platter!"

"Ah, yes. That deal. That deal is off," Ortega said.

"What, why? I gave her to you! My son knows exactly where she is, he can lead you right to her!" Katsumoto pounded his fist into his desk. "This is an outrage!"

Ortega turned finally, pointing an automatic pistol with a silencer at the man. "Because, although you did bring me here and have offered her up to me like a lamb to the slaughter, you've also put me in quite a situation. Dominic Toretto never left Tokyo and Han's funeral was some time ago. Which tells me, he's staying for a reason."

Katsumoto started to sweat.

"He _knows_ she's _here_. Can't you follow any logic? I thought you Asians were suppose to be smart." Ortega cocked the gun. "He knows she's here and he'll protect her, tooth and nail. That makes my job harder. I dislike it when my job is harder."

"Ortega-san, I didn't know, I didn't—"

**Fwip**.

A bullet zinged, quietly, out of the gun and right into Katsumoto's skull.

Ortega smirked. "I really don't give a damn, _cabron_. Sleep tight."

He turned and that was when he saw him. Teiichi watching the scene, from the door which was propped open only slightly. Ortega took one step toward him.

And Teiichi ran.

-*-  
_Interesante_ = Interesting  
_Itte_ = Go (as an order)  
_Ima!_ = Now!  
_Moshi, moshi!_ = Hello (for phone only)  
_Yamada no shako desu!_ = Yamada's garage!

AN: I own nothing.

_Beta'd by MoonchildDJ_


	7. Chapter 6

In Kyoto, Japan, a fifty-one year old foreign woman turned on the television in her small home. She had no bedrooms, one window, a kitchen practically straddling her small living space which doubled as a bedroom with a pull out futon and a small bathroom with no tub, requiring her to use the public bathhouse at least twice a week.

She listened to the bubbly newswoman ramble on in Japanese—which she'd come to understand in her time in the country—and made her dinner, quietly. She passively listened to the weather and traffic, and then a report about a murder started.

She didn't pay it much mind. People were murdered all around the world, all the time, in this day and age. She caught a few words like "powerful" and "possibly connected to Yakuza" as she spread some mayonnaise on a piece of bread and that got her to look up at the screen.

Her eyes widened.

"—this young woman might be connected to the Katsumoto's murder," murmured the bubbly newscaster in Japanese as they showed a picture.

Next to the picture was the name Leticia Ortiz.

"A fax with this picture and name were found near Katsumoto's body in his Tokyo home with a note scribbled on the back, reading….'_I'm coming for you_.' If anyone has any information about this young woman, please contact…"

The sound of the newscast seemed to flutter away as the woman placed her bread and knife down. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute and she pressed her fingers to her forehead. This was her worst nightmare come to life.

"Letty…" she whispered and then stood, grabbing up her bag and her train pass and then rushing out the door.

Blanca Ortiz—alias Belita Sanchez and now known as Consuela Ramirez after she'd run away from Witness Protection—was going to Tokyo.

Her daughter, who she had not seen in twenty-three years, was in trouble and something inside of her knew that Letty wasn't responsible. She had to try and save her.

After all…

Letty was the only family she had left.

-*-

Agent Johnson gulped, stressfully, at a glass of scotch that a flight attendant had brought to him. He and a team of seven agents, including Manson, were on their way to Tokyo, Japan on a red-eye flight. This was his second scotch in half an hour so it was quite obvious he was anxious.

Yes, definitely anxious, noted Manson, as she typed away at a laptop, trying to comprise all of the files on Leticia Ortiz into one concise document. There were plenty of things to look through, that was for sure. Assaults, prior arrests, misdemeanors.

She had sure gotten herself into a lot of trouble.

Manson was almost sure most of it was connected to Dominic Toretto.

Still, she had to wonder why Leticia stayed with the man if all he did was cause her problems. Even most of her recent problems could somehow be traced back to Toretto. Yet, for some reason, Ortiz stayed with him and stayed _faithful_ as far as Manson could tell.

She wondered if he'd stayed faithful too.

Something inside her—maybe woman's intuition—told her he did.

In fact, something told her he still was. Manson actually believed—though she'd never tell Johnson this—that having Toretto involved would be most beneficial in trying to save Leticia. But perhaps it was the hopeless romantic in her conveying that. After all, if a woman is willing to rack up all these criminal charges for a man, she was obviously head over heels for the guy.

And if he was willing to risk being caught again by feds in order to keep her alive, obviously he felt the same.

And Manson really thought that was incalculably romantic and yet bittersweet at the same time. They were doomed to fail, in Manson's eyes. Maybe not their love, but if either one was to end up caught or dead…

But then, to Dominic Toretto, Leticia had been dead, hadn't she?

And yet, he was in Tokyo, willing to believe with all his heart she was still alive, and that she needed his help.

Manson sighed and saved her work, closing her laptop and looking at Johnson as he sucked down a third scotch.

"Slow down, Ackland, we're still on duty, technically," murmured Manson, placing her computer into her bag. She frowned at him, worried for his psyche and his liver at that moment. He was really stressed out.

He really wanted to save this girl.

Johnson placed the empty glass down and looked at her. "Sorry. I'm just…"

"I know, Ackland, I know. I want to help her too."

"Did you learn anything new?"

Manson leaned back in her seat and looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head. "Nothing much really. Just that she has a lot of prior criminal offenses, mostly tied to Toretto and his gang. As Anabella Gonzalez? She lived with Han for a while, then lived with Sean Boswell and worked at Yamada's Garage in Tokyo. You know, all of the things we already knew."

Johnson sighed. "Wonderful."

"Hey, boss," called one of the agents, standing up and coming over to him. "I've been scanning news and radio stations from Mexico to Japan, trying to find out any information about this Ortega fellow, wondering if someone maybe saw him cross a border somewhere."

"And?"

"And a news story just ended in Japan about the murder of an alleged Yakuza boss, which could possibly be tied to a young woman named Leticia Ortiz."

Johnson's eyes widened and then he cursed. "Damn! This just keeps getting worse. Wait…who was the Yakuza boss?"

"Um. Katsumoto. Ichirou Katsumoto."

"Dammit!" Johnson barked.

"What is it, Ackland?" murmured Manson.

"The boy that Blanca's daughter Retsu was dating when she was murdered was Teiichi Katsumoto, Ichirou Katsuomoto's son," Johnson replied. "Ortega's making every connection he can to Letty and then he plans to use them all against her. Whether he knows he's doing it or not I don't know, but he's going to break out all the stops to make her uncomfortable, try to draw her out of hiding."

Something dawned on him then and he looked at Manson. "What was the name of that garage?"

"What? Oh, Yamada's."

"Kazuki Yamada?"

"I believe so…"

"Dammit."

Manson's brow furrowed. "What, now?"

"Kazuki Yamada was Belita Sanchez's husband. Retsu's father. Letty's stepfather, technically." He frowned. "Letty looks just like her mother…I wonder…"

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts before: "I have a feeling the garage will be Ortega's next target. We need to get to that garage as soon as we land."

Manson pulled out her computer again and turned it on, connecting to the airplane's wifi uplink. "I'll have a taxi waiting for us as soon as we get there."

"Good." He looked at his team and told them the situation before sitting back against his seat and ordering another scotch.

This was going to be a _long_ trip.

-*-

Dominic Toretto's Plymouth Roadrunner pulled up to Yamada's garage and stopped his engine. Mr. Yamada had called one of his temporary mechanics to come and take Letty's shift and this man came out and began to speak in Japanese to Dom about his car.

Dom waved a hand at him and glanced around the inside of the garage. No Letty.

When Mr. Yamada noticed that Dom seemed overly curious, he stepped out himself and looked at him. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Anabella Gonzalez," replied Dom, his eyes still scanning the garage. Something caught his attention and he stepped around the older man, making his way into the shop.

"No! You no allowed going in dere! Hey! You come back!" yelled Mr. Yamada and then his eyes widened when Dom saw a sleeve from one of Letty's shirts hanging from one of the lockers and all but ripped the door off of it.

He picked up the shirt. It was hers. He could tell by the style…and the scent.

As he picked it up into his hands, something fluttered out from underneath it. Dom blinked. _A picture_?

He bent to pick it up and his eyes grew soft, memories and an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia welling up in him. He looked at the young woman in the picture, smiling and hugging the photographic version of himself.

He dug through the locker, carefully. In the end, he was able to retrieve a full outfit, the photograph and a stick of deodorant. She obviously hadn't changed. She use to keep deodorant in their old shop too.

He tossed the plastic container up in the air a little, smiling, distantly. "She didn't like smelling bad at the end of the day. Even though we'd just worked on cars all day and our house wasn't very far from the shop, she just couldn't stand it. I think it's the only thing about her that was even kinda girly."

He looked at the old man, holding up the items.

"Where is she?"

Mr. Yamada shook his head. "I no, no. I no, no where she go. She just say it urgent and she go. I sorry."

"I need to find her. She's—"

The phone rang.

Mr. Yamada answered it. "_Moshi, moshi, Yamada no shako desu!_"

_**"Mr. Yamada, is Anabella Gonzalez there?"**_ said a voice on the line.

"She no here! Why everyone ask for Anabella Gonzale—hey!"

Dom yanked the phone from Yamada's hand and pushed it to his ear. "Who is this?!"

There was silence and then: **"**_**Agent Ackland Johnson of the US Marshals."**_

"US Marshals? You mean you're the bastard who put Letty into witness protection?" growled Dom, careful not to break the phone in half with how hard he was squeezing it.

_**"Dominic Toretto, I presume."**_

"Hell yeah," replied the deep, angry voice. "Why didn't you let us handle it? We're her family. We—"

_**"If I recall, you left her stranded in the Dominic Republic, right?"**_

"That isn't the—"

_**"And the only reason she got into this mess was because she was trying to save you, isn't that so?"**_

"Don't try to—"

_**"Look, Toretto, I don't want to argue with you. It's probably a good thing I caught you," **_Johnson's voice stopped and then there was a shuffling, some heated whispering and then, _**"because, as much as I hate to admit it, I think you can help Letty."**_

Dom pursed his lips. "I'm listening."

_**"There aren't many people Letty trusts. But she trusts you more than any person. Your cooperation with us would show her we're not her enemies. It would give her incentive to trust us so we can help her. Because I'm sure her previous faith in us is lost since everyone she was trying to hide from has suddenly found her all at once."**_

Dom snorted and rolled his eyes. "Got that right. Why should I lead her back to that?"

There was another pregnant pause. _**"Because she's in bigger trouble than you think."**_

"What kind of trouble?" asked Dominic, pulling his jaw tight.

_**"A man named Ortega from Arturo Braga's organization is in Tokyo right now. He wants her dead. He already killed someone connected to her once."**_

"What?!"

_**"Listen, Toretto, listen! If you get her to trust us, the ball's in our court. Ortega will come to us to try to get to her. And we'll take him out."**_

"No, I won't put Letty in that kind of danger. I won't risk losing her again!"

_**"Will you protect her?"**_

"What?"

_**"I'm asking a general question: if something came along, be it druglords or overlords, and everything in between, would you protect her, yes or no?"**_

"Of course I would. She knows that." _Stop making that promise. To protect me. You never keep it._ Dom ignored the words from earlier, gritting his teeth.

_**"Then…"**_ Silence. _**"…if this goes according to plan, we will give Letty her identity back and let her return to…wherever it is you are, currently…**__**stationed**__** so to speak….with you."**_

Dom's eyes widened. Letty would be Letty, again? She'd be alive? She'd be alive! She'd be…she'd be with him.

Be with him.

-*-

_"I want to be with you," said a sixteen year old Letty as she stood in the entranceway of Dom's garage. She watched him turn his head and look over his shoulder from under the hood of the car he was working on at her._

__

_His brow was furrowed. "What'd you say?"_

_"I want to be with you_," she emphasized the words, crossing her arms over her chest and looking at him like he was an idiot for not hearing her the first time. "Mia told me how you feel. I know you want to be with me too."

_Dom stood up and picked up a rag, wiping his hands on it before placing it to the side. "Mia says a lot of things."_

_"Oh, stop being a cabron, Dominic, I know you want to be with—" She gasped, suddenly, when he came toward her and pressed herself against the wall as two large hands suddenly landed, hard, on the wall next to her head._

_"Can you handle me, Letty?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Can you handle the trouble being with me could cause? Someone like me, who did time. Someone who just radiates trouble. Could you handle it, little Letty?"_

_But Letty's expression came back to determination and a little bit of sarcasm, and it never wavered. In fact, the next moment of their life would be the moment that defined everything for them as a couple._

_She kissed him._

_She kissed him long, hard and frantic. Tongue, teeth, lips. Need, passion, perhaps the beginnings of love._

_And when she broke off, she smirked. "Can I handle it? I already told you that I want to be with you. Isn't that enough of an answer?"_

_Dom grinned, and the expression was a little playful._

_"Yeah. Yeah, it is."_

-*-

"You'll let her be with me?" Dom asked into the phone receiver, finally.

_**"Yes. No strings attached. We'll even give you a headstart to get out of the country and find new lodgings."**_Dom barked out a laugh. "How good of you."

_**"Do we have a deal?"**_Dom chewed on the inside of his cheek, thoughtful for a small moment, before he replied, "Yeah. We got a deal."

_**"Good, now listen, this is where I need you to g—"**_Their conversation was cut short when Dom saw a car driving by at high speed. As if in slow motion, its windows rolled down and Dom got a glimpse of a Latino man, sitting cross-legged with a hat pulled low over his eyes, smirking before a few other men pointed their guns out of the windows and started to shoot.

"GET DOWN!" Dom bellowed and pushed Mr. Yamada down covering the man's head as well as his own as the shots fired rapidly, breaking glass jars of nuts and bolts, making swiss cheese out of canisters of oil and antifreeze, and completely riddling any cars that were getting work on at the time with bullets.

The car was gone as quick as it had come and Dom sat up, pulling small pieces of glass out his arm and his head, wincing. "Fuck. You all right?"

He looked at Mr. Yamada.

"I okay," murmured the man, shaking with fear. "This have to do with dat girl, huh?"

Dom frowned, rubbing a hand exasperatedly over his head. He nodded.

Both men stood and Mr. Yamada sighed. He knew why this man was trying to hard. Even having just met him, he could see the devotion in his eyes. He loved that girl.

Mr. Yamada placed a hand on Dom's brawny shoulder and held up the phone which was miraculously still intact. Johnson's voice could be heard yelling for Dom to respond, asking if everything was okay, and Mr. Yamada smile.

"You talk to them. You make plan. You save dat girl."

Dom took the phone, gingerly, and then pressed it to his ear. "All right, Johnson. What do I have to do?"

-*-

AN: Sorry for not updating yesterday. I got caught up in something else. But here it is, my chapter for today! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
_  
Beta'd by MoonchildDJ_


	8. Chapter 7

Vince jumped down when the hatch for the cargo plane was opened. He shook the hand of the man who'd allowed him to stow away on his flight to Tokyo and even gave him a little cash for the trouble. As he walked into the airport, he found Leon waiting for him.

"You think Dom really found her?" He asked, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He knew Dom was being screwed in life the most out of all of them. First Jesse, and then Letty and then his Japanese friend, Han. Dom was losing everyone left and right.

So he hoped this really was Letty.

"Dunno, man," Leon said, shrugging. "But that's why we're here. We're doing recon. Making sure some punk isn't setting this whole operation up."

He stopped him, suddenly, and pointed.

On the other side of the airport were a bunch of suits, all American, all carrying badges. He pushed Vince behind a wall and both men poked their heads out.

"What would a bunch of US feds be doing here?" whispered Vince, furrowing his brow. Did they know Dom was here? More bad luck.

"Shh! I'm trying to listen!" Leon hissed. He strained his ears.

"—not at the garage anymore, according to Toretto," said the man standing in the middle of the group. He seemed to be the leader.

When Leon heard Dom's name, he listened closer.

"So, what do we do then, sir?" said the only woman in the group, crossing her arms over her chest. Leon thought she was kind of hot and grinned.

Vince slapped him upside the head. "Pay attention, you dog!"

Leon scowled at him but strained to hear again.

"We're meeting Toretto. He insisted we meet him in a public place. Afraid we're gonna take him out, I guess," replied the first man. "He said to meet him in the car district, at a Honda showroom down there. We have to be careful. Lots of fast cars and Dominic Toretto usually mean trouble for us. If we do end up having to apprehend him, we need to make sure it's not near any of the faster models. This man has no qualms stealing one of those cars to make a quick getaway."

The woman shook her head. "He won't give us problems, sir. I can feel it. This woman…she means more to him than anything. He'll give us his cooperation."

"This isn't a romance novel, Manson. We still need to be cautious. He's still a _very _wanted man."

Leon frowned. Woman? Did that mean…?

"After we collaborate with Toretto, we work on finding where Ortiz went into hiding," the man said after a moment.

Leon and Vince both gasped and looked at each other. Vince hissed, "Letty's alive!"

"Shhh!" Leon replied.

A few taxis pulled up just outside and the group of suits made their way out and climbed into them.

Vince and Leon left their hiding spot and Vince frowned. "Letty's alive. And Dom is throwing himself to the wolves for her."

"As always."

"We need to stop him! He's going to—"

"We need to find him first, V. Lets go."

They left the airport and saw a souped up Mazda sitting there, without a driver, illegally parked in a passenger drop-off zone.

They grinned at each other. Leon walked toward it. "Well, I say we do the decent, honorable thing and get this parked car out of a drop-off zone. What do you think, V?"

"I agree."

He pounded hard on the hood and it popped open with ease. He smirked and started to hotwire it and in a matter of moments, the engine roared to life. As he did that, Leon was jimmying the lock and he got it unlocked easily.

They climbed in and just as the man who owned the vehicle came running toward it, screaming obscenities in Japanese, they put the pedal to the metal and took off.

-*-

Dom was admiring a Honda Civic similar to the one he used to use to hijack trucks when the feds showed up.

He raised an eyebrow them. All wearing suits? No, they didn't look _conspicuous_ at all. He snorted.

"You don't think you guys look a little obvious?" asked Dom, crossing his thick arms over his chest.

"And you're not? A brawny, bald Italian guy in the middle of a showroom full of asian people?" replied one of the men.

"Hn. You must be Johnson," Dom said as an answer.

"That I am," he replied, smirking. "Nice to finally meet you, Dominic Toretto. I must be a lucky man. Not many feds get to stand this close to you, do they?"

"Not unless you count the buster," Dom mumbled and Johnson gave him a strange look. He waved a hand, at him, a sign to just forget it before he turned to the car, looking at his reflection in the dark window. "What do you need me to do, Agent Johnson?"

"I need you to find Letty. And keep her safe until we can get to her. We need her to draw Ortega out."

"You've already told me that."

Johnson sighed. "She's disappeared, Dominic. She's gone. But I don't think she's left Tokyo. She feels as if nowhere is safe for her and that nowhere around her is safe for any of her friends or family."

Dom's nostrils flared in annoyance. That girl…didn't she understand that she was safer with him than by herself? If she'd just let him get close to her…damn, he didn't even know where to start looking though…

"I'll find her," mumbled Dom. "Anything else?"

"Just find her, Toretto. And when you do, contact me at this number." Johnson handed him a slip of paper and Dom tucked it away.

"That it?"

"For now."

Dom 'hn'ed and then turned to leave. He didn't glance over his shoulder but he kept his shoulders tense, in case they decided to follow.

-*-

"There he is!" Vince said, pointing Dom out to Leon. They had followed those suits all the way to the showroom, hoping to catch up with him. Leon jerked the car into a parking spot and hopped out with Vince.

"Dom!" they called simultaneously and the muscular man turned to look at them. His eyes widened and he started toward them.

They reached out to give him a hug when he thwacked them both in the back of the head.

"Are you idiots insane?" he hissed. "What if one of my enemies happened to follow me here? They weren't able to prove Tran was the one who killed Jesse, remember? He could still be out there and you dumbasses could be putting yourself in the line of fire. I told you to stay where you were. Why the hell don't you ever listen?"

Both of them rubbed at the back of their heads and then Leon replied, "Because you found Letty. And we're a family. We want to make sure this isn't someone playing a trick on you and if it's not…we wanna help get Letty back."

"Ugh, you jackasses," grumbled Dom but he sighed and smiled, weakly at them. "Guess I'd be lyin' if I said I wasn't glad to see you morons."

Vince bit at his lip, looking hesitant, before he blurted, "So it's really her?"

Dom swallowed down a lump in his throat and rubbed at his own bald head in a way one would run their fingers through their hair, looking around before he sighed and looked at Vince with a nod.

"Yeah, it's her," he said finally. "I talked to her on the phone. But she's avoiding me like I was a Ford Pinto or somethin'. She thinks being near me will put us both in danger. I ain't got a clue where she is, now. Come on, let's go get some Coronas and I'll tell you guys everything."

They left Leon and Vince's stolen car behind and climbed into Dom's Roadrunner so they could find a bar or a nice, loud club where they could discuss Letty where no one who might threaten her could hear them.

-*-

Blanca Ortiz climbed off the train in Tokyo, clutching a Japanese newspaper with her daughter's face plastered all over the front page. She lifted it every once in a while to see the grinning photo of her daughter, who'd grown so much.

Twenty-three years did that to a person, she supposed. Still, the fact that she hadn't been around to watch her young child grow left a wrenching pain in her heart that she knew would be hard to rid herself of. Even if she was able to save Letty, she doubted Letty would forgive her for abandoning her, or for being the reason she'd been shot all those years ago.

She wondered what Letty was up to. She wondered why Letty was here in Japan and why she was accused of being involved in this murder.

Katsumoto's murder.

She felt no sympathy for Katsumoto. His bastard of a son had been the reason her second child, her sweet Retsu, had been murdered in cold blood.

She would not let the man bring her first child down, too. Not even in death. She tucked the newspaper clipping into a bag and made her way onto the streets of Tokyo. She didn't know where she would start, but she was willing to search every inch of this city if it meant keeping her daughter safe and free.

As she walked, she wondered about the more frivolous aspects of Letty's life. Had she graduated high school? Had she gone to college? Did she have a boyfriend? Was she married already? These things drifted to and fro inside Blanca's brain and her heart twisted even more, thinking she may have missed so much in Letty's life.

She shook her head. She needed something to drink. Something to loosen her up and perhaps help her ignore her wrenching heart.

She walked a few blocks more, until she found a bar which advertised the serving of both American drinks and Japanese ones.

She entered it and pulled herself up on the bar, ordering a sake.

"—yeah, Letty worked at some garage, I guess. Yamada's. Never stopped loving cars, I guess. My fault."

Blanca's eyes widened and she looked over to find three men sitting at the bar a few barstools down. They were all quite well built and handsome but the one talking was extremely brawny, bald and had the deepest voice she'd ever heard any man speak with.

She leaned in to listen more intently. How did they know her daughter?

-*-

Dom took a sip of his Corona and sighed. "I went down there, to Yamada's. She wasn't there. But I guess that Agent Johnson was expecting her to be there, just like me. He called and well…I set it up with him. If I help bring down Ortega, he'll let Letty and I leave together. Give us a head start even."

"Damn, man," Vince said, placing his beer down and looking at Dom. "Is it safe to be gettin' mixed with feds again? Remember what that buster did, man?"

"The buster's gonna be my brother-in-law if my sister has anything to say about it, V, so you'd better quit while you're ahead," replied Dom, smirking a little. Then he looked down at his beer. "I gotta find her, guys. I gotta save her."

He took another long gulp of his beer, not realizing that the older woman on the other end of the bar was listening in.

She stood up.

-*-

Blanca paid for her half-finished sake and then left the bar. Yamada's? Her ex-husband's place. Could she really bring herself to go there when all the bad since she'd come to Japan had happened there.

Well, if it gave her clues to causing something good to happen for Letty, then hell yes she could.

She stopped suddenly and glanced back at the man and she couldn't help but smile.

_So, Letty, you did have a boyfriend._

She cast her eyes downward. She was glad to be able to finally learn something about her daughter, and she looked up at the man one more time.

_My daughter has good taste._

Then she chuckled and left.

She had to talk to her ex-husband.

-*-

Once night had fallen and she knew that Mr. Yamada had closed up for the night, Letty sneaked into the garage again. People had told her once that because Mr. Yamada lived only down the street from his garage, he used to take business at all hours of the night.

They told her after the incident, he stopped doing that.

Letty had never realized that the incident meant the murder of her half-sister until recently.

Her brow furrowed, deep and worried, when she saw all the broken glass and bullet holes and she realized something terrible had happened here. She went to her locker. She picked up the picture of her, Dom and Han. It was full of holes. She hugged it to her before placing it in her back pocket.

Then she picked up her shirt. Hadn't she put this in the locker earlier? She lifted it. It was destroyed as well.

A scent not her own brushed past her lips.

She pressed her face to the shirt and her eyes widened.

Dom.

Dom had been here.

Looking.

She should've known. She did, in fact. She knew he'd come after she got off the phone with him. She knew he'd try to find her.

What she hadn't known was that the garage would get shot at. Had Dom been hurt? Was he dead? Was he gone?

A choked sob bubbled up from her throat before she even realized she was crying. The thought of Dom being dead was too much. Being away from him, as long as he was alive, she could handle. But dead…

She growled and kicked a chair so hard, it flew into a wall. "Dammit, Dom, why the hell didn't you just stay away like I asked?! _Why_?!"

She had to stop. She didn't know for sure he was dead and there was no need to get so worked up over speculation. Why had she even come back, anyway?

She didn't know. Maybe this place was more her home in these last few months than any other place had been. This garage had been her sanctuary, her only refuge from the loneliness that threatened to consume her now that Dom wasn't part of her life. Dom had _been_ her life for longer than she'd realized. When he suddenly wasn't anymore, it had almost become too much.

This garage had helped her cope.

But now the shit was hitting the fan.

Letty jumped up when she heard the crunch of glass under foot and she looked up, her eyes widening at the woman who walked in.

No…

"Oh…he's not here," she heard the woman murmur. "He used to keep this place open all hours of the night…"

The woman finally realized someone else was there and she looked over. Her eyes softened and she smiled, warmly, tears streaking down her face. "Oh…my…Letty…"

Letty was silent for a long moment, her eyes the size of half-dollars as she stood, frozen in place and watched the woman move toward her. When the woman was standing right in front of her, she felt her engulf her in a hug.

Letty could not hug back. She was still frozen.

The only thing she could even do was utter one, astonished word.

"M-Mama?"

-*-

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. I had a mid-term and a lot of reading to do this week for college and also I had a huge fight with one of my friends so I was working through all of that. But here it is: chapter seven! Hope you all enjoy!

_Beta'd by MoonchildDJ_


	9. Chapter 8

"_Mama?" _

-*-

"Leticia, _mi hija_, I'm so…so glad to see you," Blanca whispered, refusing to release her daughter, holding her in a tight, desperate hug. "I'm so glad to see you are safe, my sweet _chica_. I was so worried for you."

"Wha—how? You haven't seen me in _twenty-three years_," replied Letty, a small note of bitterness in her voice as she stepped back from her mother's embrace.

Blanca looked apologetic as she touched Letty's arm, tenderly.

"I had to leave. I couldn't risk staying, keeping my identity as Blanca Ortiz, taking you home. It would just have put you in danger again. Did _abuela_ take good care of you?"

Letty nodded. "Until she died."

Blanca felt a twinge in her heart. Her poor mother, always such the saint, taking care of her little Letty for her. Her mother had always had faith in _her_ as a mother. She just hoped she'd understood why she'd had to leave Letty in her care.

"Did she suffer?"

"No," Letty murmured. "She was sick for a long time. She died in her sleep. And it was like she knew she'd die that night because before that she told me that she loved you and me. And she never blamed you for anything."

Blanca smiled.

"But I did."

The smile dropped.

Letty sighed and turned to the destroyed toolbox on the other end of the garage, picking up a wrench. She examined for a long while, silently, as Blanca looked on, hesitantly. Then she jumped when Letty slammed the wrench down into the hood of an already bullet-ridden car and glared at her.

"I was three years old! And _abuela_ was eighty-three! She was tough and she lasted thirteen more years after I came to live with her but you know, it's not actually a very good thing when a sixteen year old girl has to move in with the twenty-five year old guy and his family down the street. The twenty-five year guy old she ends up sleeping with. Oh, and _hijacking trucks with_, did I mention that?"

Blanca frowned, deeper.

"Ugh, but I can't even really blame you for that, can I? Because I could've been smart. I could've gone to college halfway across the country, away from him, away from the lifestyle he dragged me into. I had the grades for it, Ma, did you know that? As and Bs! But I was already stuck. In love with a demon in a fast car."

She threw the wrench across the garage and Blanca winced when it made contact with the wall, clattering loudly to the ground.

Letty slumped down onto the floor, leaning back against the destroyed car behind her and slamming her head against it. "Dammit, dammit, dammit. This isn't your fault. I just need someone to blame for the fact that I'm still in _fucking love with him_ and I can't even be with him. Not just because it might be dangerous for him but look—_look_ at this place. It's destroyed. And he was _here_ when it happened. He might be _dead_, _gone_ forever! _Gone_!"

She couldn't stop the tears now; no matter how tough she wanted to seem, no matter how tough she was, she couldn't stop them. "And the last thing I told him was that it was over. That he never kept his promises to me when all he ever tried to do was keep them. He only ran away because he wanted to keep me safe. And now I'm hiding behind that excuse, too, except that's all it is…an excuse. The fact of the matter is that I was running because I was still angry…that he left me…"

Blanca was silent, just letting the young woman speak.

"But I shouldn't be…" she whispered. "…because he came for me. He came for me here, he just wanted me back…and now it might've cost him his life. What the hell am I suppose to do, huh? He's my whole fucking world…shit, he's the only real family I got. _Dammit_!"

She threw something else—a random piece of rubble or glass. Something Blanca really couldn't distinguish. All she saw was the anguish on her daughter's face—the guilt because she thought she was the reason this man might be dead.

"He's not dead," Blanca finally said.

Letty's eyes widened and she looked at the woman and then she let out a bitter, barking laugh. "Stop jerking me around, lady, you don't even know who I'm talking about."

"Tall, muscular build, bald, drinks Corona?"

Letty's eyes got wider. "What. The. Fuck?"

Blanca chuckled. "I don't know his name but he was at a bar in the city with two other men. A scruffy looking man with a medium build and a slightly scrawnier man."

"Vince and Leon! You…you really saw Dom? He was alive?" Letty stood. "He was okay?"

Blanca nodded. "He was perfectly fine. Well…no, I can't say that. He wasn't physically hurt but…he sure looked lost, _mi hija_. I think you and he really need to talk to one another."

Letty shook her head. "No. No, this time it really is because he'd be in danger. I've got cops and the Yakuza on my ass, I am _not_ dragging Dom into this."

"I know. That's why I came," murmured Blanca. "I saw the news report. Letty. You didn't kill Katsumoto-san, right? Please…tell me you didn't kill him."

"No! Hell no! His son is a pig but I didn't lay a fucking finger on him!" She pressed a hand to her own forehead exasperatedly, the other on her hip as she paced for a few seconds and then stopped. "I don't know who killed him or what the fuck it has to do with me."

"Leticia, _mi chica_, this is…" Blanca sighed. "…is there anyone you know who would try to frame you or may have come looking for you through Katsumoto-san?"

"I—no…I mean, well, Dom saw his son roughing me up the other night, but he wouldn't—"

_For you, he would, Letty, _a voice in her head murmured.

Blanca frowned and touched Letty's shoulder. "You have to consider that possibility, Letty. Especially if he ended up finding where Tei lives and found out that his family had a picture of you."

"No! First, he's dead and now he's a murderer? Dom's a lot of things. A thief, definitely. An illegal street racer, hell yeah and a damn good one. Even a thug who almost beat someone to death once, but not once, not ever has Dom ever intentionally killed anyone. Never," Letty defended, glaring at the woman.

She didn't know about Fenix Rise. She didn't know anything about what Dom had done to Braga's men after her alleged death.

But she wouldn't have faulted him for that, had she known. She probably would've done the same thing for him.

However, as far as she knew, she was telling her mother the truth.

Blanca was not convinced. "Just…I think we should look into this more. Come on, _mi hija_, Kenichi lives up the street. I think we should talk to him. If he was in the garage when your 'Dom' was then perhaps he knows something. Come on."

She wrapped an arm around Letty's shoulders and they left the dilapidated garage and started up the street toward the apartment buildings at the end of the block.

-*-

"She wasn't at the garage…" Ortega murmured, pacing his hotel room, puffing smoke rings out of his mouth every time he removed his cigarette. "And no one was at this Sean Boswell's house when we paid our 'visit'. So where is she, I wonder…"

He placed the fag back between his lips and inhaled deeply, reveling in the taste of the smoke as it snaked down his throat.

"Ah, it amazes me how a simple cigarette can be so calming." He looked at his men. "Isn't that so?"

They were all silent, watching him, calculating whether he was in one of his more sociopathic moods, where he acted pleasant, only to turn around and burn one of them in the eye with that very cigarette.

"Don't look so frightened, _chicos_. We'll find her. We just have to look harder," Rodrigo said finally. "By now, the _federales_ are here but…I'm confident we will fix this little _Ortiz_ problem before they are able to get to her, _si_?"

Unified nodding.

"Good. Now get out of my sight before I think of something terrible to do to each and every one of you. Slow and painful. _Out, now_!"

They scurried out like frightened mice and Rodrigo scowled and crushed the cigarette in his fist, hissing as it burned his hand. "Little _puta_, I will _find_ you if I have to shoot every person in Tokyo to do it."

-*-

Blanca bit her lip, nervously, as they climbed the stairs to Yamada's apartment. She hadn't seen him in eight years. She had missed him but she didn't know if she could face him now.

Letty glanced at her and, despite holding some ill will against her, she squeezed her hand.

Blanca pointed. "This is it. I can't believe he hasn't moved…after all these years."

Letty looked at her. "He told me you wanted to name Retsu 'Leticia'."

"He told you about Retsu?"

"I found a picture of her with Teiichi."

Blanca smiled, bitterly. "That boy killed my daughter."

Letty shook her head and turned her eyes on her mother. "No, Ma. He didn't. Being with him might've, but it isn't his fault. I mean, yeah, he's the biggest _cabron_ in the world but the way he looked in that picture…"

Blanca looked up at her daughter and Letty, laughed, warily. "…well, it's the same way some'a my friends said Dom used to look at me."

The older woman smiled.

"He sounds like he really loves you."

"Loved me. We've pushed each other away so much lately, I wouldn't doubt if he—"

"Didn't I tell you about how hurt he looked in the bar?"

Letty rolled her eyes.

"Oh, Letty, just knock."

So, she did.

-*-

Kenichi Yamada had been eating dinner, peacefully and alone, when he heard the knock on his door. He grumbled some explicative in Japanese and stood up, making his way to the door.

He was not prepared for what he saw behind it. First, seeing Letty there, when he knew she was in danger, was surprising but what was hardest for him was seeing the woman next to her.

Belita.

"Berita…" Yamada murmured as he took a step back. "You ghost?"

"Kenichi…" She smiled and shook her head. "I disappeared. That doesn't mean I died. We have a lot to talk about, Kenichi. Please let us in."

He wanted to close the door, to ignore her, to hide from this ghost from his past.

But she was just as beautiful as she'd been when he'd married her and it hurt him to realize how much he'd missed her. He stepped aside.

The two women came inside.

-*-

Mia sighed as she paced the hotel room. She hadn't seen Dom in almost a day. She was starting to worry. Had something happened to him? Was he dead? Had he been arrested? Damn, she was so scared.

So scared, in fact, that she jumped and yelped when Brian's hands came down on her shoulders, tenderly.

"Oh! Brian…"

"Calm down, babe, you're going to end up hyperventilating, or pacing a groove in the carpet," he said, softly, stroking his hands up and down her arms. "He's fine. You know how Dom is, baby. He doesn't go down without a fight."

"That's what I'm afraid of…" She sighed and turned, curling her arms around his waist as he held her close to him.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear and then sat her on the bed. "So please, stop worrying. I don't want you stressing yourself out and end up getting dizzy or something. Just…take a nap, okay? I'll let you know if I hear from Dom."

"Promise?"

He nodded.

Mia smiled and kissed him, before lying back on the bed and closing her eyes. As she fell asleep, Brian frowned, subtly, to himself.

_Come back, soon, Dom_.

-*-

"Sit, sit, sit," Yamada said. "You want sake?"

The two women nodded and so Yamada scurried into his kitchen to get a bottle of it and warm it up.

Letty looked around. She'd never been in his apartment before. She hadn't even really known he'd lived this close to the garage.

She wondered how broken up he was about its destruction. Badly, she assumed.

He returned with the bottle and some cups and set them down, pouring each of them some of the soothing alcohol and handing it out. Then he looked at Blanca.

"Berita…"

Blanca smiled, sadly. "That's the first thing I suppose I'll have to tell you. My name isn't Belita Sanchez, Ken. It's Blanca Ortiz. I was placed in the witness protection program by the US government after I testified against a drug lord in Los Angeles. They sent me here and I met you…and had Retsu. But after Retsu died, I didn't trust anyone, not even the program, so I ran away."

The older man scooted closer to her and placed a hand over her's. "I miss you. I think of you every day. I sad when you go. I sad when Retsu die. She my daughter, too."

He glanced at Letty. "This your daughter? Leticia."

Blanca nodded. "The one I wanted to name Retsu after."

"She look like you. Almost exact. But younger." His eyes widened and he turned to Letty. "You, you man…he come to garage! He look for you! He save me from bullets, push me down! He good man. Kinda scary looking but good man."

Letty had to laugh. Dom was intimidating. But he _was_ a good man. The best she'd ever known as far as she was concerned.

"And he was all right?"

He nodded.

Blanca glanced at Letty and then at Yamada. "Kenichi…do you know anything about Katsumoto's murder?"

His eyes jumped to Letty for a moment and then he swallowed, nervously, and shook his head. "Only what I hear. It not true, right?"

Letty sighed. "No, it's not true. I didn't kill him. I didn't even _know_ him. I only ever saw his son."

Yamada frowned and knocked back his sake before he leaned back in his chair and looked at them. It was obvious they were mother and daughter. Beautiful women, they were. For a moment, he looked frightened though. Frightened, yet relieved.

He felt as if he'd just seen Retsu, sitting between them, smiling at him.

A hallucination. He was an old man after all.

Still…it was nice, for a brief moment, to get a glimpse at the three women together. They _belonged_ together.

He sighed and poured himself some more sake, knocking it back again. It wasn't time to be longing for something far dead.

He glanced at the women again.

He had to focus on the present. On the ones that were still alive.

That was what was best.

-*-

Teiichi made his way up the street toward Yamada's garage. He wasn't sure what he was doing here, of all places, but something told me even if that little _saseko_ hated him, she wouldn't throw him to the wolves.

Not like he had to her.

He growled as he stopped in front of the garage and then his eyes widened. He frowned deeply as he stepped inside.

Broken glass, bullet holes in cars, wreckage left and right.

Someone had shot this garage up.

He had a feeling it was the same man who'd killed his father.

Was the owner at home? And where was the girl?

He dug through some of the rubble and then stopped, lifting a torn picture from the wreckage. His eyes widened as he stroked his thumb over the woman in the picture.

_Retsu…_

He closed his eyes

_"Teiichi…Tei…run!"_

Her screaming would never stop haunting him.

_"Retsu…Retsu!"_

_BANG!_

_"RETSU!!!"_

Tei growled and stood up. "Dammit, you stupid girl, why'd you jump in front of me?! I was the one who was supposed to—I was the one they were after!"

He missed her. God, did he miss her.

Her father owned this garage.

That girl, Letty, looked just like her.

He sighed and pushed the picture into his back pocket and then continued to shuffle through papers. There it was. Address book.

He opened it. He found the entry that said "Home" written in scribbled Japanese and then he picked up the phone and dialed.

-*-

Yamada was just finishing his second cup of sake when the phone rang. He noted that both women jumped at the sound and he smiled a little. So similar.

He stood and answered the phone. "_Moshi moshi_?"

His eyes widened and Letty's brow furrowed. She noted he spoke rapidly in Japanese and then he looked at her. He held the phone out to her.

She looked up at the man and then gingerly took the phone. "Hello?"

"Can you meet me down the street at the garage, _kirei_?"

Her eyes widened.

_Teiichi_.

"Why?" hissed Letty. "Do you have the cops waiting there to arrest me? I didn't fucking kill your dad, you sonuva—"

"_That isn't it_!" he hissed. "I know who killed my _Otousama_, and I know it wasn't you. But we need to talk. I need to explain a few things to you. So dammit, stop being such a _saseko_ and get down here."

_Click_.

_Beeeeep_.

Letty glared at the phone and handed it back to Yamada. "I'll be back."

"Letty—"

"Ma, I gotta go myself. I'll be okay. I can take care of myself."

Blanca smiled, weakly. "Another one of those things you learned from that man of yours?"

"Probably. Can't really pinpoint when it started." She sighed. "I gotta go."

She walked out.

Blanca looked at Yamada and frowned, deeply, worry creasing every part of her face. She hadn't known Letty long, missed twenty-three years of her life in fact, but she was her first-born, the only child she had left. And she couldn't lose her too.

Yamada pulled her into his arms and 'shh'ed her quietly. He was worried too. She had been a good employee and an interesting girl. He'd gotten close to her over the months.

Han had been right. She was worth hiring a woman. It was no wonder they'd been friends.

He just hoped she'd be okay.

-*-

Teiichi was sweeping up the garage when Letty arrived and he looked up at her.

She raised an eyebrow at him, her arms crossed over her chest, her hip jutted out a little bit in a stance of irritation of impatience.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked, tapping her platform-booted foot against the ground.

Tei smirked, warily, and pulled a half-ruined chair up out of a heap of things and placing it in front of her. "Sit down. I think there are a few things I need to explain to you, and hopefully you'll stop being such a bitch once I do."

"Bitch? Uh huh. Bye." She turned to leave.

"Wait!" He lunged and grabbed her arm. "Wait…_gomen nasai_…just sit down, please. I know you're Retsu's sister. I've always known, somehow…but my father did some research on you and found a picture of your mother. She's Retsu's mother, too. Different name, same face. Just hear me out."

She rolled her eyes and flopped down on the bent-up chair, crossing her legs and arms and looking at him with a "get-on-with-it" expression.

"I'll start from the beginning, then. Which, for me, was when I met Retsu. She was my whole world," he murmured. "She was perfect in every way."

"Bet you thought that because she looked so exotic, huh? Just another shallow guy."

Tei shook his head. "No…it wasn't that, that pulled me in."

Letty furrowed her brow, a little more interested now.

"It was…her eyes."

"Her eyes?"

"She had those kind of eyes, you know?" Teiichi murmured, pacing back and forth. "The kind that could see through a lie in an instant. When she looks at you, she sees all the truths in your whole life. For me, she knew not everything about me was safe. But she loved me anyway."

Letty looked down at her knees. Dom had once told her that she had similar eyes. He hadn't been so eloquent, though. She couldn't remember his exact words now, but Teiichi's words made her realize, more than she had previously, that he and Dom were not so different.

"Go on," mumbled Letty.

"We met in high school. She was younger than me," he murmured. "Three years. We were friends at first. We'd eat lunch together, spend breaks together, and I'd walk her home every night to that same apartment the owner still lives in. It was nice just being near her, being around her.

"Soon enough, we ended up dating. She asked me out, in fact. She was brave. I blame that on her Hispanic genes. Always so brave. We dated for…six months, I'd say. I was going to ask her to marry me. We were still in high school but I wasn't far from graduation and I was willing to wait for her.

"But word got out around my father's branch of Yakuza that I was thinking of marrying a _gaijinn_, an outsider. Someone of mixed blood. And some Yakuza are very righteous about the Japanese purity of the group. But they blamed me for the thought of it. And they blamed my father for letting it happen. They were going to punish all of us by killing me. My father would have to live with the shame, Retsu would have to live with the guilt and I…well, obviously, I'd be dead.

"On the day of the attack, we were here. She was like you, always fascinated in cars, and I enjoyed learning about them as well. We spent a lot of time together in this garage. But that day, a few Yakuza came. They called me out and I told Retsu to stay inside with her father. She didn't listen. As they cocked their guns to shoot me, she rushed out of the garage, ignoring what I'd asked her to do, and jumped in front of me and was killed. It hadn't gone as planned for them since they were supposed to kill me but I guess they believed that one life was equal to another as long as they had a kill to report to their boss and obviously, so did the boss since no one ever came back to kill me. Also, they'd gotten rid of the _gaijinn_ forever, so they felt satisfied with themselves.

"Retsu's father never forgave me. But to keep me from going to jail as an accessory, he asked my father to bring him business and in return, he wouldn't testify that I had something to do with her death."

He was silent for a long moment as Letty processed the story, going over the events in her head. So, he _had_ been in love with Retsu. He wasn't just another rich snob bastard who'd grown up living a wealthy albeit dirty life. He'd once believed in love.

"I didn't want to be Yakuza, you know." He said finally.

She looked up at him again.

"I wanted to work in this garage and marry Retsu."

Her eyes widened.

He ducked his head, stroking a thumb over the photo he now held in his hand again. "I've never forgiven myself for her death. It _was_ my fault and Yamada-san had every right to blame me."

He looked at her. "I want to help you. I'll tell the police you had nothing to do with my father's murder. I'll tell them who really did it. I saw him. But the man who did it is after you and you have to find somewhere safe. Please, don't try and be brave like Retsu. Yamada-san thinks of you as he did her and it would kill him if you died, too."

Letty sighed and shook her head. "I have nowhere to go."

"I know a place."

She looked at him.

"I have a friend. He owns a hotel on Harajuku Street. I'll make a call. You can go there and hide out until the cops can catch my father's real killer, the man who's after you."

Letty raised an eyebrow at him. "Besides my sister, why would you be doing this for me? I'll admit, I was a real bitch to you. I got you slugged in front of all your drift friends."

"So that guy _was_ with you."

"He wasn't _with _me. Look, my connection to him is a long fuckin' story and I'm sure—"

"He's Toretto, right?"

Letty closed her mouth and looked at him with disbelief. "How'd you know that?"

"I heard my father talking to the man who's after you, the one who murdered him. Toretto's really making that man sweat. He knows Toretto would fight for your safety, tooth and nail."

Letty laughed, suddenly, and she couldn't stop laughing. Tei gave her a funny look.

When she finally stopped, she shook her head, murmuring, "He keeps showing up. First he calls here, then he's here when the place gets shot up, then my mother sees him and now even strange psychopaths know about him."

She was silent and then she murmured, "Wonder if that means something."

"Maybe it means you're running away from something you should be running toward," offered Tei, raising an eyebrow at her. Then he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Did you say your mother? You mean…Retsu's mother? She's alive?"

"Yes. And she's with Mr. Yamada. And I want it to stay that way. They need each other and her being with me would be too fuckin' dangerous," Letty replied. She started to gather up her things from her destroyed locker.

"What're you doing?"

"Write down those directions and call your friend. I'm goin' to that hotel. And then I'm gonna find a way to stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Running away from something I should be running toward."

-*-

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: SO PROUD! This is my longest chapter yet AND it's special to me because it was the first chapter I've had so far where I actually had to get over a case of writer's block to get it written. So I hope you all enjoy!


	10. Chapter 9

"_I'm gonna find a way to stop it."_

_"Stop what?"_

_"Running away from something I should be running toward."_

-*-

Letty stepped off the bus on Harajuku street in front of the hotel and sighed. She didn't have any clothes except the things she'd gathered at the garage but she knew it was too dangerous for her and for Sean to try and reclaim her things at his place.

She glanced down one end of the street and then the other. This seemed like one of the Tokyo centers of fashion from what she could see. Maybe she could find something here. She had a good chunk of money saved up. She just had to find a way to retrieve it from her account without having to use her card.

She knew that could easily be traced.

She sighed and walked into the hotel, and up to the counter.

The man behind the counter looked at her with disdain. She realized she was probably dirty, and her hair was probably mussed but she did not like that expression. She growled at the man behind the counter and he shrank back a little.

"Can I help you?" he squeaked.

"I believe you have a reservation for me," she replied, raising an irritated eyebrow at him.

"Name?"

She swallowed and murmured, "Retsu Katsumoto."

A man, well-dressed in a three piece suit, shaking the hand of someone in the lobby, overheard the name and came forward, placing a hand on Letty's shoulder, looking at the man behind the counter. "Tama, this is our VIP guest, don't you remember? I told you about her."

"O-Oh! Of course, sir. Miss, let me get you your room card." He shuffled around behind the desk.

The man smiled and bowed a little. "_Konnichiwa_, I am Miki Teguchi, Teiichi's friend. We went to Tokyo U together. Shared a dorm. And you're…" His voice dropped down low, "…Leticia Ortiz?"

She nodded.

"Very good. Oh my, is that all you have?" He pointed to her bag.

Another nod.

"Well, Teiichi-_kun_ said anything you need, just ask and he'll pay for it all. So just let me know what you like and I can have a few things sent up to you," replied Teguchi.

"Thanks."

"Miss!" called the man behind the desk and then held out her room card to her. "Here you go. Third floor."

She took it and nodded. "Thanks." Then she started toward the elevator.

"Oh! Miss?" Teguchi called.

She looked at him.

"Place your dirty clothes by the door and they'll be picked up and cleaned."

She nodded.

"Enjoy your stay!" called the man behind the desk.

The elevator dinged and opened and Letty stepped inside, leaning back against the wall and clutching her bag to her. She sighed, and closed her eyes. She wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't hide out here forever.

_How can I fix this? How can I make it right?_

The elevator dinged open on the third floor and she looked at her card. She went to the room with the number from her card and slid the card.

As she was opening the door to go in, a door on the other end of the hall opened and Mia walked out. She was saying something to Brian, who filed out behind her. She glanced up when she felt another presence in the hall and her eyes widened.

She had only caught a glimpse of the person's profile before they'd disappeared inside their room but she knew who it had been.

Letty.

"Oh my god, Brian!" she hissed. "It was Letty! I saw Letty!"

Brian blinked and turned in the direction Mia had been looking. His brow furrowed and then his eyes turned on his girlfriend, and an expression of confusion painted his face.

"I didn't see anything."

"Ugh, she went into that room! Come on!" She pulled him along to the room and went to knock. But Brian grabbed her hand.

"Wait. Mia, we can't do this. If it isn't her, we'll look like dumbasses. And if it is…what if she's here for a reason? What if she's hiding from something? She's here under witness protection, remember? We could end up blowing some sort of cover."

Mia looked up at him and then sighed and dropped her arm. "But—"

"Let's wait for Dom. Now come on, let's go get something to eat. When Dom calls, we'll talk to him, okay?"

Mia nodded and followed him out, glancing back at the door.

_Letty._

-*-

Letty stripped out of her clothes and placed them by the door like Mr. Teguchi had told her to and then turned the shower on. She wrote down her clothing tastes on a piece of paper and then set it down atop the dirty clothes as she waited for the shower water to warm up. And there was a robe she could curl up in until some clothes were sent up for her.

She sighed as she stepped under the spray and wet her long, wavy dark hair. The water sluiced over her tanned skin, down her round breasts, over her hips and womanhood and down over her legs, washing away all the dirt, grime and sweat from her tired, aching body.

This entire situation was stressful. She was being accused of murder and now she'd come to learn that someone was actually killing people in an attempt to find her. Was it Braga?

Of course it was.

Someone working for him had obviously found out about her and was out to get her. The thought frightened her and she felt her chest constrict in fear.

She doubled forward, pressing her forehead against the cool tile of the shower as she tried to catch her breath, as she pressed a palm against her chest and heaved, closing her eyes. She could feel a few hot tears leave her eyes and she pounded her fist against the tile.

"Dammit," she hissed as she slid to her knees. What a mess. What an utterly terribly mess.

The water had run cold before Letty actually stood to wash. She did it quickly but thoroughly and shivered as she stepped out into the open air, wrapping the robe around herself and putting her hair up in a towel. Then she went out into the living area and saw that her clothes had been taken.

There was a knock shortly after that.

She opened the door and a young man with an armful smiled at her.

"_Konnichiwa_, Katsumoto_-san_. Your clothes." He held out his armful to her.

She plucked the articles from him and smiled back, nodding. "Uh, _arigatou_. I, uh, I don't have any cash on me or—"

"It's quite all right, miss." He bowed and then skittered off.

Letty closed the door after that and placed the clothes down, spreading them out. Wife-beaters, t-shirts with cartoonized skulls, t-shirts with cars on them, bras of the proper size, regular panties, thongs, even boxers lay there. There were also baggy cargo pants, denim skirts, hip-hugging black jeans, an array of belts and at least two packs of black socks.

She ran her fingers over all of the clothes and smiled a little. It was like a little taste of the past. She glanced over at her boots. They were scuffed and dirty but they were the only thing she still had that were _really_ part of the past.

She sighed and then plucked a black wife-beater and a denim skirt from the bunch, as well as a pair of normal—albeit lacy—black panties and a lacy bra. Then she pulled her robe off and dressed.

She wasn't sure what to do now. She knew there were a few things she needed to take care of and a few people she needed to find but she had no idea where to start.

Still, she pulled on some of her new socks up to just below her knees and then put her boots on. After that, she pulled the towel out of her hair and tossed it across the room until it was near the door. She stood up and went back into the bathroom.

She found a comb and started to work the knots out of her hair before she pulled it up into a ponytail, a few tendrils dangling down, framing her face. She sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"What did you ever see, Dom?" she asked and then grinned. "The eyes, right?"

She shook her head and stuffed her keycard into her bra before walking out. Maybe she could find an arcade to hang out in or even a bar. Something.

She made her way to the elevator but was ambushed before she made it inside. There was a hand over her mouth and she was being pulled backward. Oh god, was she being kidnapped? Had they found her?

_Dom!_ her mind cried.

But she was pulled inside a room, hearing the door close, lightly and then she was wheeled around.

Mia!

"I knew it was you!" Mia called and then hugged her, hard, tears falling down her face.

Letty blinked and hugged her back. "Mia, what're you—"

"I saw you go into your room. Brian said not to do anything but I couldn't just leave it alone. I ran back up here and I saw you coming out! I was so lucky because I didn't actually have to bother you. Oh, Letty, it's really you!"

She sobbed and Letty sighed and hugged her tighter. "Stop that crying, Mia. Haven't Dom and I taught you anything?"

Mia laughed and then sniffled. "Oh...Dom, he's—I mean, this is his room but he's not here. He's been gone for a few days. I've been worried…"

Letty frowned. "Mia…I'm sure he's fine. He's Dom, y'know?"

"He misses you."

Letty sighed and let go of the woman, stepping toward the bed and sitting on it. "I miss him too, Mia, but…there's more to this than just him and I. Something big is after me and I can't get anyone else involved. I can't let anyone else get hurt."

"But Dom—"

"Stop it, Mia," she snapped and then sighed. "I want to see him. And when all of this is over, I'm gonna stop running. I'm gonna face up to my feelings, the anger he left me with, and all the love I still have for him. But not now, not yet."

Mia sat on the bed next to her and took her hands. "Letty, Dom would do anything for you. When he thought you were dead, he was in a rage. He killed a man, Letty, for you. He killed Fenix Rise."

Letty's eyes widened.

_Dark hands wrapped around a gun, pointed at her head. NOS leaking onto the asphalt. Sirens in the distance._

_Death's door._

"Letty?"

Letty was snapped out of her thoughts and she looked at Mia. "He…did?"

"Yeah. And he turned himself in for the hijackings. He thought if he stopped running, he could make you proud one last time. He almost went back to Lompoc."

Letty looked down at her lap. "He did?"

"Yes."

Letty stood up and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mia. I have to go."

"Why is it so hard for you?!"

Letty closed her eyes, tight and shook her head again before she walked out, going back to her room.

Mia sighed and then jumped when the phone rang. She dove for it. "Hello? Dom?"

_**"Yeah, it's me."**_

__"Dom, I was so worried! But, that can wait. Listen, you have to get back to the hotel, now!"

_**"Why?"**_

__"She's here."

-*-

Letty leaned back against her door and placed her face in her hands, letting out a shaky breath.

"Fuck," she breathed and stood up straight, pacing the room, pulling the ponytail out of her hair to let it fall free, so she could run her fingers through it, nervously.

If Mia was here, that meant Dom could show up.

She couldn't stay.

She'd have to find another hotel to stay at. She couldn't risk Dom. Not when she might have a chance to salvage their relationship after this mess was over. She began to gather up her new clothes and stuff them into her bag.

She went into the bathroom and grabbed some of the little shampoos and soaps. She didn't know where she'd be staying but in case she had to take a bath in a puddle, at least she'd have something to wash with.

Where _would_ she stay? She couldn't go back to Sean's. She couldn't go back to Yamada's and put her mother in danger. Han's place was still taped off because of his alleged murder and all the illegal activity surrounding his cars.

"Dammit, dammit all…" she hissed and then flopped down on the bed.

What was she doing? She had nowhere to go, she had nowhere to _belong_. She hadn't had a place to belong since Dom had left her. Since all of this had happened. Maybe if she stayed, they could…

No. Not yet. Not until the danger had passed. She was angry at him for leaving her but she loved him too much to put him in jeopardy.

There was a knock at her door.

She sighed. "Mia, go away, I'm not going to change my mind."

The knocking got louder.

"Mia, I'm serious, nothing is going to change!"

Knock, knock.

"Ugh, Mia, you're as stubborn as your brother, I swear!" she growled and stood. "Go away!"

_Knock, knock, __**knock**_!

She stomped toward the door and yanked it open. "Mia, I told you, I'm not gonna—"

Her eyes widened.

Desperate eyes gazed back at her.

"D-Dom."

-*-

Disclaimer: I own nothing


	11. Chapter 10

"_D-Dom?"_

-*-

Letty took a step back from him, but he wasn't about to let her get away this time. He grabbed her by the arms as quick as his large form would let him and pulled her into a hard, desperate kiss.

They kissed for a long moment, urgently, with tongues and teeth and lips all combined until Letty realized what this could lead to, what she had been trying to avoid, and she pulled away, slapping him across the face. He should've been glad that she was too dazed from the lip-lock to have actually punched him.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" she barked.

"Who the fuck do I think I am? I think I'm the dumbfuck who's been looking for your ass for the last couple days!" he growled back, slamming her door shut behind him, taking a few more steps toward her. "You're in trouble, Letty, let me fuckin' help you!"

"I don't need your help, Dom! I don't need you. And obviously, you don't need me, since you up and left me so damned easy!"

She turned away from him, scowling at the floor, crossing her arms over the chest.

Dom sighed. "It wasn't like that. The cops were comin', Letty. I wasn't gonna put you through that again. I had uprooted you too many times before. I wasn't about to do it again!"

"_Ride or fuckin' die, Dominic!_" bellowed Letty, turning back around and shoving him, hard. "That means I got your back, you got mine, forever, remember? No matter what dumbasses come to fuck up our lives, we stick together. Why the _fuck_ did that change suddenly?!"

"Because you got hurt during the heist after Race Wars! And when I saw that, I couldn't fuckin' risk you again! Not again!"

"I was fine! Who the hell are you to tell me how to live my life?!"

"I was worried about you! You were in the hospital down in Mexico for two weeks! Your ribs were broken, your ankle was sprained, you were…broken, Letty! And it was my fault!"

"That doesn't mean I'm just gonna run! Not from you, Dom, _never_ from you!"

Dom sighed. "I know. That's why I want to help you now!"

"Why are you pushin' this so fuckin' hard, Dom?!"

"Because I _still fuckin' love you_!"

"Oh yeah, you sonuvabitch?!"

"Yeah!"

"Well, _I still love you too_!"

They both stopped, suddenly, and the room was silent. They just stared at each other for a pregnant moment, and then they were together, kissing, wrapped around each other like a vine around a tree-trunk. She felt their teeth clacking together, but she opened her mouth and their tongues tangled. She could feel his brawny hands pulling her tank-top off and tossing it away.

Then one of those hands snaked under her bottom, holding her up as he carried her to the bed, the other stroking a swollen apple of flesh beneath her bra.

The sound of zippers unzipping and fabric tearing could be heard as more clothes were thrown to the swallowing shadows of the dark room as he laid her on the bed, his large form shadowing her smaller one.

It had been so long, and as she watched his perfect body hovering over hers, she knew what was coming next. She could see it in his eyes, that he needed her as much as she needed him. She wanted to feel him connected to her in a way only they could comprehend, physically and emotionally.

He knew her body better than anyone except perhaps herself.

He pulled her close to him and…

-*-

That was definitely Toretto's car.

Ortega's minion had seen it at the garage when they'd been shooting up the place. He had to wonder if his boss had seen it too. But he saw Toretto's car in front of a hotel on Harajuku street and he was curious. So he climbed out of his cab, told him to wait, and went to investigate.

He went inside and up to the desk, ringing the bell, wanting someone to answer him. A scrawny Asian man came up to him and asked him what he could do for him. He asked about the car out front and the man replied that the owner of that car had just arrived not more than a half an hour ago.

What would Toretto being doing here if he was out looking for Ortiz?

Then a thought hit him.

He asked if any new guests had checked into the hotel that day.

_Retsu Katsumoto._

Gotcha.

He told the man that he was the woman's brother and that he needed the number to her room right away.

The man must've figured they looked similar enough and handed him a scrap of paper. He grinned and went outside, back to his cab, and told the driver where to take him.

-*-

Vince and Leon were at the hotel bar when Mia and Brian found them. They were drinking Coronas and talking about what Dom and Letty could be doing if by chance she actually happened not to kick Dom out.

Brian was grinning when he sat down next to them. "If you two had a bet on whether or not Letty was gonna kick Dom out, whoever picked 'yes' loses."

Leon and Vince both looked at him and then Leon scowled and handed Vince a $20. The other man grinned and pocketed the cash and then looked at Brian.

"Hey, thanks a lot, buster. You're not half bad. So everything is going pretty good then?" Vince waggled his eyebrows at them.

"Good?" Mia asked, sitting down. "I'd say amazing. I could hear them all the way down the hall. I told Brian I needed to vacate immediately to keep my psyche in one piece. I love my brother but the thought of him in any sexual situation, even with Letty…it's a little much."

"Oh, and like the thought of you with the buster over here didn't make Dom wanna knock a few heads together?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Mia grinned. "I never said it didn't."

"So, Mr. Buster," Vince asked. "Dom tells us you and Mia are gettin' serious. Guess she don't care that you're a cop, huh?"

"Not a cop, anymore. Gave it up to save Dom. Then the FBI roped me in. Gave that up, too, to save Dom. Guess I'm just a guy, now. Maybe even part of the team?"

Vince and Leon looked at each other, then smirked at Brian. "Yeah. Maybe," Vince murmured.

Brian grinned back and shook his hand. "How about I buy you two guys a drink, huh?"

"Well, now, _that_ sounds like something someone from the team would do," Vince added, grinning wide.

Brian bought the next round.

-*-

Ortega was not in a good mood. All of this searching, all of this _killing_, and they still hadn't found that damned Ortiz girl. She was like a ghost, vanishing. No matter where they went, where they searched for her, she was nowhere. They had gone to every single one of her old hang-outs and nothing.

Now they were at the drift garage. It was late afternoon so it was empty and he wondered if he came back tonight when the drifters were here if he'd find her. If she'd be here.

He doubted it.

He turned in his spot when he saw a cab pull up and one of his men stepped out. He looked pleased with himself and Ortega swore if he led him to another dead end, he'd gut him with his own fingernails.

"_Jefe_, I have good news! I found her!" the man called and Ortega raised a skeptical eyebrow at him.

"Oh? And how do you figure?"

"I saw Toretto's car in front of a hotel. All of your sources have told us that Toretto has been coming to all of the same spots as we have, looking for the girl. So why would be at a hotel if all of his energy was going into finding her? Then I thought, what if the girl is there. So I asked if any new guests had checked in—"

"Get _on_ with it!"

"Right, of course. So I asked and they said a _Retsu Katsumoto_ had checked in."

"_Katsumoto_? That is the name of the man I killed. And Retsu…isn't that the name of the woman that the _Katsumoto_ boy had been dating? The one murdered by Yakuza?"

"Yes!"

Ortega pondered this for a moment and then smirked. "The _Katsumoto_ boy is helping her."

His man nodded and held out a scrap of paper. "The number to her hotel room, sir."

Ortega smirked and snatched the paper from him, looking down at it. This was it. This was his ticket to finally destroying the last piece of evidence against Braga and his cartel. This was his ticket to ridding himself of the worry that was Leticia Ortiz. He looked at the man.

"Get me my satellite phone."

-*-

Dom lay on his back, one arm under his head, the other wrapped around Letty. She was on her side, watching him with half-lidded eyes.

How many times had they done it now? Four? Five? He'd lost count, just enraptured by the feel of her body against his once more.

But now they were relaxing, taking a breather from their lovemaking, just letting the world around them sooth them for a little while.

Dom decided now was when he needed to tell Letty about Johnson.

"The man who set you up in Witness Protection is worried about you," he murmured, his fingers stroking up and down her bare shoulder. He heard Letty snort and he sighed.

"So? What good has he done for me? He sent me here and shortly afterward, Han died. And then, Braga's organization found out where I was. Obviously, he's not doing his job," grumbled Letty.

"I met with him. He asked me to take you to him. He wants to protect you, Letty."

"Protect me?" she sat up. "He should've started doing that from the beginning!"

"Letty, listen to me," Dom said, softly, sitting up with her, placing his hands on her shoulders, gently, and looking into her eyes. "He told me if you cooperated and everyone got out of this shithole alive…he'd let us leave together, Letty. He'd let you be Leticia Ortiz again and he'd give us a headstart to run. To get as far away as we can. He agreed to give us our life back."

Letty's eyes widened and then she grew silent, placing her small hands on his arms, looking down at the bedsheets.

Agent Johnson was going to let them leave? Couldn't that be dangerous to his career? He could get fired for letting fugitives loose like that.

Just like Brian had for letting Dom run.

She looked at Dom and frowned, before hugging him. "Can we just not talk about this right now? I'm ready for another round."

He sighed but grinned a little. "You never get tired of it."

"Hell no."

He laughed. "Okay then."

-*-

Ortega's phone was brought to him and malicious glee filled his entire being. As he dialed the number, he knew he was close. He could almost feel her blood dripping through his fingers. Beautiful.

The phone was ringing, a wonderful sound in his ear.

It rang for a long while and he wondered, absently, if hotel phones had answering machines.

Then finally, the beautiful click of her answering the phone.

He let out a hellish chuckle and murmured, "Hello, Letty."

-*-

After their six or seventh time, Letty didn't really know, she and Dom had spent up their energy finally and decided to go to sleep.

It was about half an hour into her slumber that the phone began to ring.

Letty opted to ignore it in favor of dreaming of Dom and her doing what she was sure they would once they awakened full of energy again.

However, the phone continued to ring and it did not stop. Letty finally relented and, careful not to stir Dom, she sat up and answered it.

"Hello?"

There was a frightening chuckle on the other end.

Letty furrowed her brow. "Who is this?"

_**"Hello, Letty**_._**"**_

-*-

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I know its short, but there is a lemon in this chapter that I needed to remove to make it a less potential target for flagging and therefore removing by . If you want the chapter WITH the lemon, email me at the email provided on my profile page and I will send it to you. Also, if you don't want to go through the hassle of emailing, just wait a while and the full chapter with lemon will be posted on the quarter_mile community on LiveJournal. However, I've so far only posted the prologue on that comm. so that might take a while. That's all! Enjoy!

_Last few chapters beta'd by MoonchilDJ_


	12. Chapter 11

"_**Hello, Letty."**_

__-*-

Letty sat up from bed, softly, so as not to stir the slumbering man next to her and pressed the receiver of the phone hard to her ear. She clenched her jaw, gritting her teeth behind her lips, her knuckles white from gripping the phone so hard.

"Who _is this_?" she repeated, her tone a harsh whisper.

_**"You know who this is, senorita Ortiz. Stop acting a fool."**_

She could hear the smirk in his voice and she wanted to throw the phone across the room. She felt Dom moving next to her and she fell silent, her voice dropping even lower.

"What do you want?" she asked, standing up.

_**"You, my dear. Only you."**_

"Well you can get ass-fucked with a crowbar, _cabron_," she growled in reply.

_**"I know where you are. And I know that the Torettos and your friends are with you. If you don't come to me, I'll come to you…and there will be hell to pay."**_

Letty's eyes widened and she looked at Dom. Her sweet, hard-assed Dom who loved her as much as he could. More than anyone else ever had. This is what she had feared most of all. That someone would come for him, for her family in its entirety, and try to destroy them.

She was silent for a long time and then:

"When and where?"

_**"Tonight. At the parking garage where you used to hang out with your friends and watch the drift races. Come **__**alone**__**."**_

__She looked at Dom again, a feeling of dread and sorrow twisting in her chest. She swallowed down a sob and then whispered, "I'll be there."

The line went dead.

She placed the receiver down and laid down, herself, pressing her body against Dom's. It made her want to cry when his sleeping form turned over and pulled her closer.

_Forgive me_.

-*-

Dom was deliriously happy. He hadn't been so pleased in a long time. He hadn't been so elated, in fact, since the last time he'd been so close to Letty. She was his entire world. Of course, people around him had always believed he was a womanizer who liked to flirt and drive fast cars.

But Letty was everything to him. She had been by his side through everything. She never gave up on him. She loved him.

She _still_ loved him.

He felt a warm body press against his in the midst of his sleep and he pulled it closer.

She was soft of skin, but hard of personality. 20% Angel, 80% Devil as he'd told that woman who'd helped him bring down Braga. Letty was his perfect woman. His Letty.

He dreamed of her for all of his hours of sleep, pressed close to her soft body, feeling her beauty radiate off of her and onto him, a glorious feeling of closeness and he felt when she shifted from his arms and stood.

He felt her but he did not wake.

Not until much later.

He opened his eyes and sat up, stretching his large, burly form. He blinked sleep from his eyes and looked around. Letty was not in the room.

He stood up, ignoring his own nakedness and went into the bathroom in search of her but she wasn't there either. He pulled on his pants and went back to his own room, but no Letty.

Finally, he returned to Letty's room and a deep frown was creasing his face. Then he saw it. Lying on her pillow.

A note.

He went over and picked the scrap of paper up, gingerly, and held it up so he could read the small, scribbly handwriting.

_Dear Dom,  
You're gonna hate me. I know you are. But I can't let you get hurt. He threatened you. He threatened Mia and Brian and Vince and Leon. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my whole life, Dom and losing you __**again**__ would kill me. I'm going to face this, face my own shit, and I can't drag you into it. So I understand if you hate me for pulling a "you" but maybe now I understand why you did it a little better._

_Don't follow me. Please._

_I love you,  
Letty_

Dom crumpled the note in his large fist and growled, deeply, squeezing his eyes closed. "Dammit, _fucking dammit_, Letty, what the _fuck_ is wrong with you?!"

He pulled his clothes back on, swiftly, and walked out of the room. Not follow her, his ass. He was going to follow her to the ends of the earth until she stopped being so _damned stubborn_!

He went to talk to Johnson.

-*-

The team was still down in the bar, laughing and drinking, when they saw Dom stomp by the bar and into the lobby.

Each one of them stood up and paid for the drinks and then rushed out to follow him. Mia caught up to her brother and grabbed his arm. "Dom, what's going on? Where's Letty?"

"_Gone_! She fucking _left_ to go meet the guy who's _hunting her_!" He bellowed, anger and fear filling him.

Mia's eyes widened and she stopped as Dom charged forward. Tears welled in her fear-filled eyes and she turned and looked at Brian, who caught up to her. He hugged her as she explained what Dom had just told her and his lips pulled into a deep frown.

Vince and Leon ran to catch Dom, who explained that he was going to see the man that was supposed to be in charge of protecting Letty. Vince and Leon made a decision to go with him, and they refused to take no for an answer.

Mia and Brian followed.

-*-

Johnson and his team were staying in a hotel down the street. That day, for some reason, he had a knot low in his gut that was making him a little nauseated. He had downed two bottles of Pepto Bismol already and was working on a third.

"Ackland, you're going to make yourself even more sick if you keep drinking that stuff like its Kool-Aid," murmured Manson, placing her cheek in her hand and watching him, intently.

"Doesn't matter. Something's off. Can't you feel it? Something's about to go seriously wrong. Something—"

There was a loud, obnoxious knock on the door.

The whole team looked up from their work. Johnson placed down his bottle and took a step toward it.

"Identify yourself," he said loudly toward the door.

"Johnson, _let me the fuck in_!"

Manson pursed her lips. "That would be Toretto."

Johnson gave her a stale expression. "Good observation, Carolyn."

He moved to the door and wrapped his fingers around the knob before pulling it open and looking dead into the face of a very angry Dominic Toretto. Accompanied by four other worried faces.

"What is it Toret—"

"Letty's gone."

"What?!"

Now Johnson understood the sick feeling in his stomach and he flopped down in a chair, massaging the bridge of his nose. "What do you mean she's gone?"

"I mean that psycho bastard somehow musta contacted her because she left me this." He thrust the note into Johnson's hand. "And she's fucking _gone_."

Johnson's eyes scanned the words on the paper and the ill feeling grew before he placed the paper down and looked up.

"Is there any way to find out where she might be meeting him?" Dom asked, trying to calm himself a little bit.

Johnson looked at Dom before he chugged down the third bottle of Pepto and sighed. "I don't know, Toretto. Possibly. If we ask around a little bit. I mean, we don't even know how she's getting there—"

"She's still got the Mustang," Dom replied. He remembered seeing it out front after Mia had called him. Of course, that memory was a little bit of a blur. When it came to last night, his brain was definitely—and for once—_not_ focused on cars.

"That's Boswell's car, right?"

Dom nodded. "Yeah."

Johnson looked at a member of his team. "Find that kid's number."

Dom blinked.

Johnson murmured, "I have an idea."

-*-

**Anything, Twinkie?**

"Nah, man, I ain't seen nothin' yet," murmured the other man into a communicator that had been given to him by those suits. He, Sean and Neela were checking all of their usual hangouts. Restaurants, car shows, clubs. No Letty.

At this point in time, Twinkie was driving to the drift garage and his eyes narrowed when he found that each entrance into the parking garage was blocked off by big, clunky sedans.

He pulled up. "Yo, what's goin' on? Ain't this a drift garage?"

An obviously Latino man turned to him and said: "Closed for renovation, _hombre_."

"Oh, really? Well, damn. Ain't that a shame," Twinkie murmured. "Guess I'll just go home."

He turned his truck around and murmured, "Think I found it, Sean. The drift garage is being guarded by a couple of Ricky Martin wannabes blocking the entrances."

**Thanks, Twinkie. Good job. I'll call Toretto back.**

Twinkie frowned. _Hope you're all right, Letty._

-*-

"Uh huh? Yeah. Thanks, Sean," murmured Dom and then handed the phone to Johnson. He talked with Sean for a moment and also thanked him before hanging up the phone. Then he turned his eyes to Dom and frowned. "We go in on this together, Toretto, you hear me?"

"Fuck you, Johnson," Dom replied. "I'm going to get her back."

He turned to leave.

"Dammit, Toretto, stop! You won't help Letty if you go charging in and get yourself killed. We need a plan!" Johnson barked.

"Dom, please listen to him," Mia called from the corner of the room. "Please…no more death. Please, Dom."

Dom clenched his jaw and balled his fists at his sides. He didn't want to just wait around while that madman was possibly murdering the only woman he'd ever loved. But he calmed himself and shook his head. "Fine."

"Good." Johnson stood up. "Now let's get started."

-*-

Teiichi came into his friend's hotel and asked the man at the desk to fetch him.

Teguchi walked out.

"Teguchi, how are you?" asked Teiichi, smiling a little at his good friend. "That girl I sent…is she all right?"

Teguchi frowned. "She's gone, my friend. One of my staff went up to her room and she's gone. She has not returned. And we assume she's been gone since early in the day."

Teguchi's eyes widened. "No…she was supposed to stay here! Do you know where she went?"

"No."

Teiichi's eyes darted back and forth as he thought of where she might've gone.

"A man stomped through here later in the day, though and I heard him telling his friends that she had gone to meet someone," Teguchi added.

"I heard something!" the man at the desk said. They both turned to him. "When she left. She was mumbling and she looked a little scared. She said something about races. Drift…something. And parking. I couldn't hear everything."

Races. Drift. Parking.

The parking garage where the drift races were held!

"Thanks!" Teiichi replied and then he rushed out of the hotel. He couldn't let her be lost. Not like Retsu.

It was then Teiichi realized that he had fallen in love with Leticia Ortiz. He loved her as he had Retsu—perhaps he saw her as Retsu, or perhaps a part of her as Retsu but something inside of him had drawn him to her and he loved her.

He would not let her die.

-*-

Ortega was smoking a cigarette when he heard the heavy footfalls of platform boots. He smirked. "Glad you could make it, _senorita_."

He flicked his cigarette away and turned, raising an eyebrow. She was quite the looker. The pinnacle of perfection in a Hispanic woman. He was half-tempted to force himself upon her before he killed her. But she looked like a fighter. And he wanted to get out of this clean and unharmed.

He leaned against his car and glanced behind her at the Mustang parked a few feet away and then plucked another cigarette from the pack and placed it between his lips. He lit it up.

"You know, chain smoking's bad for you," Letty grumbled. She was glaring, darkly, at him.

"You shouldn't be worrying about my lifespan, _chica_. You should be worrying about your own," he murmured.

"Fuck you," she spat. "What the hell do you want with me?"

Ortega laughed outright, a chilling sound, as he crossed one ankle over the other and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, blowing the smoke out. "What I've always wanted from you, _senorita_. What Braga wanted from you after he was done with you…"

Letty narrowed her eyes at him and then froze when he pulled a gun faster than she could blink and pointed it at her.

"…I want you _dead_."

-*-

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Fellow Dotty fans, our voices are being heard! I found this on Wikipedia today: "Letty Ortiz, Michelle Rodriguez's character who was killed off in the 4th film, has developed a cult following to the point where a "Bring Back Letty" campaign has been created on the popular networking site, Myspace. Universal recently responded to the outcry of support for the character, stating that they are overwhelmed by the response the character has gotten and indicated that they are considering bringing her back for the 5th movie."

But don't stop fighting! Sign those petitions! Contact Universal! (I'd post links but I dunno what fanfiction(dot) net would do with them) And we'll have a chance to BRING BACK LETTY!


	13. Chapter 12-Epilogue

A/N: I know, I know! It's been years! A lot has changed but one thing that hasn't is my love for Dom/Letty. And now she's back! So in commemoration, let's finish this with a bang!

* * *

"...I want you _dead_."

Letty was frozen, unsure how to react to the weapon. She had no wear to run, no car to drive, and like before, as she faced down death, she saw her life flash before her eyes. She saw her grandmother, Mr. Torreto, Mia...she saw _Dom._

Crystalline tears formed in angry eyes as she faced down the gun's angry barrel and she turned glaring eyes on Ortega. "If you're going to do it, _do it_!"

That was all it took. With all the silent rage of his kind, Ortega squeezed the trigger, and the next few seconds, in all their speed, seemed to happen in slow motion. Letty knew she couldn't duck or dive fast enough so with the resignation of someone who's life was over, she closed her eyes, fear as well as a sad readiness for death overtaking her.

However, today was not her day to die. As the bullet whizzed toward her, she heard the quick and loud revving of an engine as a car drifted up onto the garage's top floor and skidded in front of Letty, blocking the bullet strikes as Ortega pumped a few more rounds out of his gun, creating the sound of car glass shattering and the puncturing of metal against metal. Letty ducked beneath it, unable to glean who her savior could be.

There was a deafening silence within the parking garage then and she could hear a rustling and groans from within the car. Suddenly, the passanger door flew open and Letty tumbled so as not to get hit by it as Teiichi's form rolled out, wheezing and moaning, his chest bleeding from multiple wounds.

Letty's eyes widened and she crawled to his side. "Teiichi, what the—"

The Japanese man coughed, blood rolling down his face as it bubbled up from his throat. He turned his eyes toward Letty. "Y...you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, you crazy _cabron_. Why did you do that?" Letty asked, pressing slim, calloused fingers against his wounds, trying to stop the blood flow.

"Ret...Retsu would have wanted me to," he replied, hacking, wheezing, _dying_.

Letty shook her head. "It woulda been fine. _I _woulda been fine. This was my fight. This was _my _death to take. Not yours."

Teiichi let out a hacking chuckle and shook his head. "_Iie._ It's b...better this way. Toretto...will c-come for you...and now...I-I get to go..." He let out a series of angry sounding coughs, blood splattering his mouth. His time was close. "...to go...go home t...to Retsu..."

"No, Teiichi, wait-" But the man simply smiled, as if he was seeing everything he'd been missing and with one final breath, he was gone.

"Teiichi...Teiichi!" Letty hissed, shaking him. No response. She closed her eyes, crossed herself over him and then reached out, digging through his pockets. She found was she was looking for, holding black pistol, shakily, in her fingers. She frowned. _I'm better than this. But..._ She looked at Teiichi. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she stood and found Ortega smoking a cigarette, gun still pointed in her direction.

"Ah, there you are," he murmured, taking long drags. "I knew you'd reemerge eventually."

"Why didn't you come around for me? Teiichi was dying...he couldn't have protected me twice."

"I have waited this long for your death, _puta_. Waiting a little longer was not so painful. I am a patient man," he replied. "However..." He cocked the gun, finger on the trigger. "Let us pick up where we left off."

Flicking his cigarette away, his brow slammed down in an angry expression of rage, as he advanced on her. With all of the calculation of a violent animal, he let his finger slide further into the trigger slot. Just as his finger tugged the trigger for a second time, a series of chaotic events unfolded. Letty lifted Teiichi's gun, squeezing the trigger to strike in return, when another car—a fast, little Honda Civic, whizzed onto the parking garage's top floor, slamming into Ortega. Ortega's bullet sunk into the car's hood as Letty's broke the glass and punctured the driver within.

However, the driver did not stop. With Ortega clinging to his hood like an ugly, evil hood ornament, the driver pushed the accelerator, the car careening forward. As the car zoomed forward toward the wall, the car jerked suddenly, and skidded to a stop, and a bloodied but living Ortega tumbled from the car and across the garage floor.

There was silence, after that, as smoke rippled up from the tires stopped so quickly and intensely. The door opened, and, for a long moment, no one emerged. Letty watched as Ortega lay, groaning, his body broken, his gun laying mere feet from him.

Finally, from within the Civic, someone emerged, and Letty's eyes widened.

Dom, holding his shoulder, swung himself out of the car and looked at Ortega, his eyes full of malice.

Ortega writhed, but laughed, coldly. "As long as I live, you cannot protect that _cabrona_. She _will_ die, Toretto. If you want to protect her...you will have to kill me."

Dom reached out with his free hand and plucked the gun from its place upon the ground. Turning it on Ortega, his eyes narrowed.

Letty moved around Teiichi's car and started toward Dom, meaning to stop him. She yelled when she heard the loud fire of a gun, knowing this would be what put Dom away for life. However, she was shocked to find, when the smoke cleared, that the bullet had just missed Ortega's head and buried itself deep into the concrete below.

"That ain't me anymore," Dom said. He pressed the button in his ear. "Ortega's done."

There was a short silence before the whine of sirens flared up and a gaggle of cop cars rolled into the garage, surrounding them. From within poured a flood of Japanese police, as well as Johnson and his team. It only took a moment to cuff the broken man before them. Johnson then turned his eyes to Letty and Dom, as Dom planted himself, protectively, at Letty's side. He gave a short nod, as if to say _thank you_ or _good luck_.

It was only moments later than the swarm of police and agents were gone, and so was Ortega. Letty looked at Dom.

"You came."

"Ride or die, Letty. I wasn't 'bout to make the same mistake I made before. I wasn't 'bout to leave you again."

Letty was quiet for a moment, as she tried to quell her tears. Then, with anger, insecurity, sadness, joy, all rolled into one, she socked Dom in the arm before throwing herself against him, her arms looping around him. "_Dominic_."

Dom gasped, his good arm coming around her, his bad one throbbing under her weight.

Letty stepped back immediately. "Oh...did Ortega get you?"

"No, I think this one was you," Dom replied with a smirk. "Good shot, Letty."

Letty cleared her throat, blushing. "Sorry."

Dom pulled her close. "Nah. It's okay. I still love you more than anything, Letty. An' I'm never letting you out of my sight again." Then, with all the desperation he could muster, he kissed her, and the promise was sealed as tight as a vaccuum-sealed cap.

* * *

Letty pulled the black veil down over her face, carefully, and looked at herself in the mirror. She knew this was the right thing to do but she was tired of Japan and she wanted to go home. Now that she and the crew had received full pardons for their service in capturing Ortega and ending Braga's organization, all she wanted was to street race and work on cars again. Like old times.

But she knew that her sister—the sister she'd never known—would want her to go. After all, Teiichi had saved her.

Quietly, she stood, straightening out her black skirt and blouse, stumbling a little in the black heels her mother had brought her. Just as she was about to fall, she felt strong hands on her arms. She turned dark eyes to glance over her shoulder and smiled at Dom.

"When did you get here?" she asked. She was currently staying in the apartment with her mother and stepfather.

"Just now. Figured we could ride together."

"I didn't know you were going."

"Hey...this guy saved you. He was willing to die for you...and for your sister's memory. In my book, he's alright with me."

Letty nodded as she righted herself. Picking up her purse and cell phone, she spun and admired Dom in the black pants and blazer he wore over the plain white t-shirt. She imagined if he had been the one in Teiichi's car instead, imagine his body riddled with bullets and realized that he would have done just the same for her as Teiichi had.

Shaking the frightening image away, she planted a long kiss on his lips and then moved past him and downstairs, immediately moving into her mother's open arms. As Dom joined them, the small family traveled outside and into the cars waiting for them to take them to Teiichi's memorial.

The service was small. Only Teiichi's mother was present, as well as her tiny family. The city had wanted to bury Teiichi next to his father. But his mother insisted...

And he was buried next to Retsu, where they could be together forever.

Letty cried. Mia, who arrived later with Brian and the boys, cried. But Belita and Teiichi's mother cried the most. Laying roses on their children's graves, they traded looks and nods of silent understanding. _Take care of what you have left_, they said. _Don't ever let it go._

Letty saw this, and then glanced at Dom and her own little family. _I won't, Retsu...Teiichi...not ever again._

* * *

(Two years later)

* * *

"Dom! Brian! Catch her!" Mia cried from the house—their old house on their old street where someone close to them as died—but so many had learned how to _live_. She was on the second floor, screaming out the window as her squirming one-year-old raced out of the house, naked as the day she was born, giggling.

She raced down the lawn toward the driveway where Dom and Brian were working on a 1970 Dodge Charger. Brian stood from his place beneath the car and wiped his hands. With a smile, he reached out as the naked little girl dove into his arms.

"Dada!" she shrieked with a smile as he lifted her, standing. A moment later, Mia emerged and walked, quickly, toward them.

"Mari, why are you running from Mama, huh?" Brian asked as Mia stopped in front of them. The little girl shrieked and giggled and put her clean little hands on Brian's greased smeared face, before touching her own and giggled again.

"You little grease monkey, I just gave you a bath," Mia replied, smiling at their daughter. Just days after returning from Japan, she found out she was a month pregnant and seven months later, their daughter came bursting into the world, unable to wait to be full term, too full of life to be patient.

And now, at a year old and a handful of months old, she was as full of life now as she'd ever been.

And as Dom watched his niece be fussed over by her parents, he smirked. She was truly a testament to the kind of life he'd always wanted to build. A good life. A safe life. He had never wanted to jack trucks forever. Just long enough to make the kind of money necessary for his family to survive comfortably.

And so much had happened. So many painful, ugly memories because of his bad decisions. But now...

He turned his head as he heard the front door open and close again. From within, Letty—his _wife_, now—emerged and made her way, slowly, down the steps. Six months pregnant. Glowing.

Now, he had a world of bad decisions to make up for, but he was pretty sure making an honest woman of Letty—starting a family with her—was a pretty good start. She grinned as she stopped next to him.

"You know I'm gonna beat on you with a monkey wrench for this, right? I can't even see my feet," she replied, but her eyes gleamed. "And here you two are, workin' on the Charger without me. Now does _that_ seem fair?"

Dom let out a chuckle and wiped his hands. Chucking the rag away, then, he yanked her close and kissed her, deeply, one hand around her back, the other resting softly on her belly. "Sorry, Let. Gotta get 'er up and runnin' 'fore our little one gets here. Can't have him growin' up inside mini vans and SUVs. Right?"

Letty laughed, a deep, beautiful sound, like that of a bell ringing in the silence of winter and nodded. "No. Guess we can't." And her laughter continued.

Dom had never heard a sound so beautiful. Never known a woman so tough. 20% angel, 80% devil. 100% his. Pulling her closer, he promised himself the same promise he'd made her in that parking garage what seemed like a lifetime ago. Made it to her and their unborn son. _I will never let you...or him...go. Ever._

And with the giggling of his niece filling the neighborhood...with Brian and Mia laughing as they tickled her and tried to fight her into her clothes...with Letty and her pregnant stomach tucked safely against him...he kissed his wife, thinking about the future with more anticipation than he ever had—because now, the future was something to look forward to.

End.

* * *

"Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near." Isaiah 55: 6

It's finally done. Hope you enjoyed. Thank you all for the years of faithful reading and the slew of reviews I received on this story.


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